When the Stars Go Blue
by BikerChick101
Summary: Veronica has a crush on her brothers best friend, who would never be interested in her, right? Completely AU
1. Chapter 1

"Juggy, you have to drive me to school today," Veronica said popping her head into his room and Jughead looked up from his book and frowned at her. "How are you a jock?" she asked with a raised eyebrow at the thick tome in his hands.

"What? Why?" Jughead whined, ignoring her question and putting a bookmark to save his place before shutting his book and jumping out of his seat quickly to follow her back to her room where she already was. "How are you so fast?" he mumbled to himself. "Where's Betty?"

"She's at school already, she has an early meeting," Veronica said with a roll of her eyes as she sat down at her vanity table and picked up her mascara wand. "She has way too many clubs."

"You know there's always the bus," Jughead told her with a smirk and Veronica narrowed her eyes at him in the mirror, as if she would ever be caught taking the bus to school. "I cannot wait until your birthday when mom and dad finally get you a car so you can drive yourself around."

"2 weeks Juggy," Veronica told him smiling sweetly as Jughead made a face at the nickname. "What's the big deal, you have space in that big car of yours and we're going to the same place."

"Fine, I'll take you," Jughead said feigning annoyance. "You're going to have to share the back seat, I'm picking up Archie and the girls as well."

"Urg... I hate your groupies," Veronica said squishing her face at the thought of the girls who had been following her brother and his best friend around since Jughead's breakup with his long time girlfriend.

"You're on the same squad as them," Jughead chuckled walking closer to mess up her hair causing her to slap his hand away and attempt to fix it. "Aren't you supposed to be like 'sisters' or whatever Bombshell goes on about."

"The only person allowed to call me sister is you," Veronica grumbled making sure her hair was perfect before grabbing her lipstick. "Unfortunately."

"Such a princess," Jughead laughed shaking his head and pushing off from the back of her chair that he was still leaning on. "We leave in 5."

"Wait," she screamed just as Jughead got to the door and he turned around with wide eyes bringing his hands up to ask what she scared him like that for. "Midnight Plum or Savage garden?"

"Seriously?" he asked and she nodded shaking the two lipsticks in her hands because this was a very serious question. "They look exactly the same ... that one."

"Hmm," Veronica frowned at his choice. "I like this one more."

"Why did you ask if you already knew which one you wanted?" he asked annoyed both at the unnecessary question and at the fact that she chose the other lipstick. "We leave in 2 minutes."

"Wait, I need to change this skirt," she called as he left the room. "I hate you."

"2 minutes."

* * *

"I am not getting into the back seat," Veronica complained as they turned onto Archie and Betty's street. "I'm comfortable here."

"Do you really want to stick poor Archie in the back seat?" Jughead asked amused, glancing over at her.

"I'm sure he'd be happy sitting between two hot cheerleaders," Veronica says with a raised eyebrow as she turned toward her brother, huffing out a breath.

"I thought you hated them," Jughead chuckled bringing the car to a stop in front of Archie's house, both of them waving at Fred Andrews who was standing on the porch and drinking his coffee.

"I might think that they're superficial bimbo's but I have eyes," Veronica told him. "Although out of all the cheerleaders you guys decide to choose, why those two, it's like you figured out the ones that hate me the most and decided to date them."

"They don't hate you and we are not dating them," Jughead told her waiting for Mary Andrews to finish fawning over her son so they could leave. "Like you said they're hot, we're hot, so why not be hot together."

"Ew," Veronica said making a face at the way he phrased it.

"Besides if they hated you, I wouldn't even be giving them the time of day," Jughead told her matter of factly and Veronica smiled to herself. Jughead might tease her alot but he was her biggest protector and as much as it frustrated her to the core at times, she loved him for it.

Veronica was going to reply but she jumped slightly when Archie opened the door and stared down at him with crossed arms. "I'm not moving."

"Jones siblings," Archie greeted slowly, furrowing his brows amused as she sat up straighter and he looked from her toward Jughead who rolled his eyes and dramatically and groaned.

"Just get in and pretend she isn't being a princess today," he grumbled glaring at his sister who shut the door happily when Archie moved away and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Why is the kid with us today?" Archie asked once he got in, taking his bag off his back and placing it on the floor before wedging himself into the space between the seats so he wasn't alone in the back seat.

"Don't touch her hair or we'll never hear the end of it," Jughead warned when he caught Archie's hand going to ruffle Veronica's hair like he did this morning and Veronica immediately moved away from Archie who just shrugged and reached a hand out to tug at a lock of hair in greeting instead.

"'The kid' is only 2 years younger than you," she said turning her nose up, she hated it when her brother and his best friend treated her like a baby, she was 16 in two weeks, she was not a child. "Betty had to be at school early and I'm stranded until I get my car."

"There's always the bus," Archie said echoing what Jughead said earlier and Veronica took a breath to start her rant on how much she would rather walk than take the bus. "Relax, Ronnie, it was a joke."

"Can't you just call me V like everyone else?" Veronica asked twisting around in her seat to scowl at him, Ronnie was her nickname from when she was a child, her parents still called her that from time to time but everyone else called her V, which she preferred.

"Where's the fun in that babe?" Archie smirked and Veronica turned red when Jughead snorted at the nickname, she hated it when he called her 'babe' even more.

"Ginger and Harper aren't there," Jughead commented stopping their bickering before it could properly begin.

"You need to hoot," Archie told him, running a hand through his red hair, Veronica tried and failed not to watch the t-shirt he was wearing under his letterman jacket tighten across his chest, through the rear view mirror. "They're probably still getting ready."

"Don't roll your eyes, you take just as long as they do," Jughead said mistaking his sisters upturned eyes for her usual eye rolling. He hooted and waved when they caught Ginger waving excitedly to them from the window.

"Aren't they your teammates?" Archie asked picking up on her irritation and Jughead shook his head quickly to tell him to hold off on that line of questioning.

"Don't even go down that route, that just makes them frenemies," he replied as Veronica huffed, boys just never got it.

"You wouldn't understand," Veronica told them, she knew she was acting childish at this point but it was only her brother and Archie.

"I still can't believe you're a cheerleader," Archie said looking over at her. "I remember when you couldn't keep up with a dance routine to save your life."

"I've gotten better since then," Veronica mumbled sinking down a little lower in her seat, the boys hadn't noticed because the other girls had gotten in the car. When they were much younger, the three of them were put into dance classes for something to do during the summer, Veronica was paired up with Archie and she always messed up the moves, stepping on his toes so many times, he eventually made her take her shoes off and stand on his feet because that was so much better.

"Veronica, are you excited for your birthday? 16 is such an exciting age," Harper said once they had gotten into the car and Veronica smiled and nodded. She didn't have such a huge problem with Harper, it was Ginger that made her skin crawl every time she laid her eye on the blond senior, especially since she was the one attached to Archie's side.

"So excited," Veronica said with her most practiced fake smile to which both Archie and Jughead snorted out a laugh at. The two senior cheerleaders chattered excitedly on either side of Archie, pulling him into the conversation as well. "I miss the days when you were with Toni and I didn't have to deal with that."

"When are you going to get over the fact that Toni and I have decided to just be friends?" Jughead asked with a frustrated sigh, keeping his eyes on the road and Veronica shrugged, her eyes shooting to the back seat to see Archie laughing with the two girls in the back seat and making a face at them. "Still happy about putting Archie in the back with the two _hot_ cheerleaders?"

"Shut up," Veronica mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at the road ahead refusing to let Jughead see how much she regretted keeping her front seat. When she was younger she had the biggest crush on Archie, which faded as they got older although there were times when he called her babe or made a joke that only she would understand and those feelings would swirl inside her chest.

"Please tell me that Betty is your ride home?" Jughead asked as he parked the car in the school parking lot, Veronica nodded digging in her bag to make sure she had her homework before jumping out to join Archie and the other girls on the grass outside. "Arch and I are taking the girls to Pop's later, I don't want to drive home first and you're not tagging along for that."

"I would rather take the bus home," Veronica assured him adjusting her bag on her shoulders and smiling at him. "Is there anything that you and Archie don't do together or do you come as a matching set?"

"We work best as a team," Jughead grinned reaching out to pull her into a hug and press a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm off, see you at home sis."

"Bye," Veronica said watching him run to catch up with Archie, slinging his arm over Harpers shoulder and saying something to make them laugh, she shivered uncomfortably at Gingers high pitched laugh and turned her attention to Archie, he had his school bag hanging off one arm and Ginger hanging off the other, he didn't look nearly as comfortable as her brother but that could just be Gingers extra clinginess.

"V, what are you staring at?" Reggie asked coming to stand next to her.

"My brother and Archie, with Harper and Ginger," Veronica said as they started to walk into the building together. "It's like my worst nightmare."

"They could do worse," he laughed and Veronica shook her head no. "Come on, they're hot."

"That's literally the only thing they got going for them," Veronica complained to him and he looked at her as if asking what the problem was exactly. "Whatever, is Betty done yet?"

"Dunno, I drove in behind you guys, they're probably in the courtyard by now, it's almost time for the first bell," Reggie said pulling back his cuff to look at his watch before opening the door that led outside for her. "So when are you finally going to stop this whole 'hard to get' game and let me take you out on a date?"

"I don't want to go out on a date with you Reg," Veronica reminded him, Reggie had been half-heartedly trying to date her since they met, they had become good friends but she never thought of him that what and she didn't really want to either, she isn't even entirely sure that he likes her that way but he liked to tease and this joke was going on for so long it would be more awkward to stop.

"Come on V, I'm a bulldog and you're a Vixen, next year you can become head cheerleader and I'll be quarterback ..." he said leaving that sentence hanging and wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"And you think that we'll automatically be that cliché?" she asked and he shrugged. "I think you've been watching too many old movies."

"Are you just going to be single your whole life?" Reggie asked. "Or wait until Jughead finds a guy that he approves of?"

"Of course not," Veronica said flipping her hair and strutting toward the table where she spotted Betty and Kevin, she had her flings that she kept as hidden from her brother as one could, she was far from the good girl he wanted her to be. "I'm just not going to date you."

"V," Reggie whined.

"Give it up Reg," Betty laughed, she only needed to hear that tone of his voice to know what he was asking Veronica. She always found it amusing when Reggie begged and Veronica turned him down, especially since she knew he didn't take it personally and he wasn't pining after her either, Reggie's dating record was close to Archie Andrews who had been romantically linked to a new girl every other week since Betty had started at Riverdale High. "How did Jughead manage to get you to school on time?"

"He carried me to the car," Veronica said sheepishly, leaning her chin in her hands, the girls were always late and that was because Veronica took her own time to get ready in the morning.

"Hmm, strong arms," Kevin commented with a dreamy sigh. "This school is going to lose the sexiest guys when they leave next year."

"I resent that," Reggie mumbled with a frown, pushing a hand through his hair and flexing his muscles for Kevin to see.

"Keep working on it bud, you'll get there," Kevin told him with a smirk, scooting out of the way when Reggie made to grab him.

"Remind me again why you didn't try out to be a cheerleader," Veronica asked ignoring the boys, she always thought Betty would be amazing as a cheerleader and she would have her best friend on the squad with her but Betty had decided against it.

"Yeah B, you would have killed it," Reggie said turning his attention to her and Kevin nodded heartily in agreement.

"Thank you," Betty said, her cheeks going pink at the compliment and she pushed her hair back behind her ears as she looked down at the table. "I'll be at the games to cheer you guys on, I'm just doing too much that, I wouldn't be able to fit cheer practice in as well."

"You need a break," Veronica said with a frown.

"Tell that to my mother," Betty said with a sigh.

"Ah the devil herself," Kevin threw in and Betty sent him a pained look. "I still don't get why she isn't as hard on Polly as she is on you."

"Because Polly doesn't care, so all her 'positive' attention comes to me," Betty says tilting her head to lean on Veronica's shoulder when the raven haired girl reached over to hug her. "The obedient one."

"You've got to stand up for yourself B," Kevin said and Betty nodded.

"Tomorrow," Betty said and they all laughed because she was always going to stand up to her overbearing mother tomorrow. "How's the plans for the sweet 16 coming V, is everything set for next weekend?"

"And is MTV going to be there," Reggie asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"Are they even a thing anymore?" Kevin asked squinting slightly.

"No, they are not," Veronica assured him with a laugh. "I can't wait, a perfect night with everyone there to celebrate me," she said framing her face and fluttering her eyelashes.

"I already have your gift wrapped and ready for you," Betty said and Veronica looked at her and shook her head. "What's wrong, you love presents."

"No, don't tell me that," Veronica said with wide eyes. "Now I'm going to be wondering what your perfect gift is for the next 2 weeks."

"It'll fly by, we have a game this weekend, you won't have time to think about it," Reggie told her and Veronica narrowed her eyes at him.

"I always have time to think about presents all for me," she told him getting up for class when Betty pointed to her watch.

"Speaking off, what car do you think you're getting," Kevin asked excitedly. Veronica listened intently as her friends listed off the cars they thought she was going to get, laughing along with them until a familiar head of red hair caught her eye causing her to slow down and trail behind them

Archie was sitting by himself with his guitar absently strumming as he focused on the trees in the distance. He must have felt eyes on him because he looked up and locked eyes with her, tilting his head up slightly asking if everything was fine, she nodded and pointed to him asking if he was good. Archie winked and gave her his most charming grin and Veronica felt her stomach flip, so maybe she wasn't as over that crush on her brother's best friend as she thought.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, happy May lol its been a while since I have posted anything, life's been crazy, today was a public holiday so I had some time to actually sit down and edit this chapter and be happy enough with what I want to do with this story to post it**

**So this is a new story where Veronica and Jughead are brother and sister and Veronica has a crush on her brothers best friend who is off limits ... it was a random idea that came to me a while ago and has sort of taken over everything else, its like my little baby, I've been working so hard to perfect the chapters that I've set out and I hope that you guys enjoy reading this as much as I have loved writing it**

**Updates will be slow, between work and attempting to have a social life, I'm kind of drowning, public holidays where I actually have time to edit is rare so bare with me please**

**Also guys, this week I watched both Avengers: Endgame and the 3rd Game of Thrones episode from the final season and let me tell you that my nerves are completely fried lol if you guys follow that show and movie series I think you understand how I feel**

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you think and how excited you are for Archie asking Veronica to prom this week, as 'friends' of course, after a season of watching them fight so hard and then break up and now to watch them find their way back to each other only strengthens the fact that they are endgame **

**Until next time(^^,)**


	2. Chapter 2

Veronica jumped onto Kevin's back as he ran them onto the field so they could lead their football team out, she loved that she had him on the squad with her, she only wished that Betty was out there with them and not on the stands alone.

After getting themselves into position, the Bulldogs started running out onto the field, through the path they created. Veronica felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins, the atmosphere of the crowd all screaming for the Bulldogs as they made their way out one by one. It was always such a thrill when she was cheering them on in the stands but she never imagined how amazing it would feel from the ground.

Veronica grinned happily when Reggie ran out blowing kisses to the cheering supporters in the stands, he had been talking about playing varsity football from the time she met him, she was so proud that he had made it and he was loving it.

The last two boys out were her brother and Archie, Riverdale high's stars, the main attraction. Veronica cheered louder with the rest of the crowd as her brother came running past them first, his arms out to touch the pompoms the Vixens were holding up.

Archie was right behind Jughead, running after him in a less dramatic way. Veronica turned her head to smile at him and he winked at her on her way out to her brother, making her blush, she didn't think anyone else saw that until she locked eyes with Kevin who wiggled his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes pulling him to follow the rest of the cheerleaders to the edge of the field to start their first routine.

Veronica was on a high, it was close to the end of the game and the Bulldogs had already won, it would take a miracle for the Eagles to win against them in the last 5 minutes of game play remaining.

"I didn't realize there was anything happening between you and the ginger haired stallion," Kevin hissed to her as he got ready to lift her onto his shoulders, she furrowed her brows and looked at him confused. "He's been glancing back at you so much, it's got Ginger fixing her hair after every move thinking he's looking at her."

"Maybe he _is _just looking at Ginger," Veronica said with a laugh playing off Kevin's observations. She had also noticed Archie looking back at the cheerleaders more often than usual, a couple of times she felt as if he was staring right at her but he could have been looking at anyone. "Or maybe he was looking at you."

"Please, I would know if Archie Andrews was looking at me," Kevin said grunting as he hoisted Veronica up onto his shoulders in unison with the other cheerleaders and gripped her legs so that she didn't slide off when she moved. "Okay, it's his free kick, Ginger is all the way on the other side of the line but he is going to look this way, at you."

"I think you need glasses," Veronica said with a laugh, waving her pompoms in the air and repeating what Cheryl had just said as the Bulldogs broke out of their huddle and Archie stepped up to the ball."

"Just watch V," Kevin said in a sing along voice. "3,2,1 ..."

Veronica said nothing, just watched as Archie turned back to his team and then lifted his gaze from them directly to her, she smiled encouragingly, showing him both her thumbs up and he nodded and blew out a breath before turning his attention back to the game and started to run.

"OMG he actually did it, what the hell V?" he asked and she yelped and gripped the sides of his head as he almost dropped her from his shoulders, his words were drowned by the cheers of the crowd as the ball sailed easily through the posts. Kevin bent down to let Veronica slide of his shoulders and then turned to her with his arms crossed. "Explain."

"We _are_ cheerleaders, we cheer our football team, sometimes when they need encouragement they look to the cheerleaders to cheer them on ... Go Bulldogs," Veronica cheered making an over-dramatic arm gesture, Kevin scowled because he obviously didn't believe her. "Do you want to know who he's really looking at?" Veronica asked dropping the sarcasm and Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Look at who's on the stage behind us."

"Josie?" Kevin asked confused because Archie performed with her a few times but there was nothing between them and then face-palmed when he realized who she was talking about. "Val! Do you know what happened there?"

"Nope no clue, but Jug made it clear that Archie would jump at any chance with her if she asked," Veronica said grabbing his arm as Jughead went flying past them with the ball in one arm. "Oh, here we go, come on Jug."

Jughead passed the ball just as a player from the other team caught him around the waist and took them both down, Veronica cringed as she watched her brother sit up but her eyes were quickly torn away from him once she knew he wasn't hurt, to the player that he had passed to, Archie, who easily scored a touchdown ending the game.

"I love game nights being on the field instead of the stands makes everything... electric," Kevin said once he and Veronica had changed out of their sweaty cheerleading clothes and made their way back onto the field, feeding off the energy that everyone was still giving off as they celebrated the Bulldog's win and reaching out for Betty when she came barrelling down the stairs to them. "B! I wish you were down here with us."

"Me too, but I'm here, cheering on my favourite cheerleaders," she exclaimed hugging them and then peering looking out toward the field where the players were. "Where's Reg?"

"Somewhere in the sea of cheerleaders and adoring fans," Veronica laughed tilting her head up as well to see if she could spot him. "We're never getting him back now."

"Whoo, now that was a good game," Jughead said suddenly, popping up behind them and throwing an arm around his sister's shoulders and Veronica immediately pushed his arm off and cringed away from him.

"No, Jug, I've already changed and you're so sweaty," she complained stepping backward straight into Archie, who chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her, making her squirm her way out of his grip. "No, you're worse Archibald, why are you here and not with your groupies?" she asked annoyed, this being the only time she wished those girls kept her brother and Archie from her.

"We came to make sure that you're still in one piece and Bombshell didn't eat you alive," Jughead said, grinning at his sister who was smoothing out her clothes after successfully wiggling out of Archie's grasp. "Jason said she was in a terrible mood earlier, we were worried."

"I can hold my own, thank you very much," Veronica said with a roll of her eyes. "This isn't my first game, brother."

"And we are so proud," Jughead teased before turning to his sisters friends and giving them a lopsided grin making both Kevin and Betty melt and Veronica rolled her eyes, that was the reason he was here after the match, to check out her friends, or well friend, singular, with the way he was looking at Betty. "Did you enjoy the game?"

"Yes, you guys were amazing," Betty complimented and Kevin nodded along too star struck to say anything and Veronica shook her head at them, she shouldn't be surprised by this behaviour though as her best friends they were exposed to Jughead and Archie every time they went to her house and every time they would act the same way. "Congratulations."

"Why thank you," Jughead said giving them a little bow. "This is only the start of the season, just wait until everything gets more intense, this year we're bringing home the cup."

"Oh yeah, there's no way the Baxter High Ravens are beating us now," Archie agreed, happy with the strength of the team they had for this season.

"We're heading over to Pop's now, will you three be there?" Jughead asked directing his question to his sisters friends because he just assumed that she would, she loved being a part of the popular crowd.

"Of course we'll be there," Kevin said happily, he loved the fact that now that he was in a cheerleading outfit, invitations they never would have gotten the year before was now a normal thing. Betty and Veronica just shared an amused look with each other because he had clearly forgotten that they were planning on having a sleepover since Mrs Cooper wanted Betty home right away. "Betts you cannot say no, this time it is not negotiable."

"Why would she say no?" Jughead asked curiously and Betty just shook her head, the last couple games, while her friends were out with their teams, she was ordered home.

"Because her mother wouldn't agree," Veronica said dancing around Archie who was still needling her to which Kevin raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, he hadn't even noticed that Archie and Veronica were still standing much too close to each other, lost in their own world.

"But Polly will be there, I saw her leave with Jason already," Jughead said confused and Betty blushed and nodded, not wanting to explain that she was the girl that followed all the rules her mother set out for her. "It's just Pop's."

"And Mrs Cooper is just evil," Kevin quipped causing Betty to frown at him, which he missed because he was still staring at Veronica and Archie who had stopped flirting but where still standing much too close to each other for this to be just friends in Kevin's eyes. "Come on B, you can't say no to Pop's, especially not when the hottest football players are asking us to go."

"Yeah," Jughead said straightening up at the compliment and smirking, over-exaggerating his presence. "The hottest football player just requested your presence."

"Wait I didn't request anything," Archie teased and Jughead turned to him and punched his shoulder hard. "Jeez Jug, I'm getting abused by the Jones siblings tonight."

"You say stupid things, you get hit," Jughead said quirking an eyebrow looking eerily like Veronica when he did that.

"Jug's right though Betty," Archie said rolling his eyes at Jughead's smug face. "You should come to Pop's and blame it all on Polly, I'm sure she's itching for a new reason to defy your mother."

"That's true," Betty laughed, Archie was her neighbour and since he was friends with Polly, he and Jughead sometimes aided in sneaking Polly in and out of the Cooper house. "Okay, I'm in."

"Wonderful," Jughead exclaimed and then turned to his sister. "Do you need a ride?" he asked knowing that she wouldn't feel bad for demanding that he drive them if they were stranded.

"My car is here," Betty supplied helpfully holding up her car keys with a small smile.

"So you're free to take the groupies without your little sister tagging along," Veronica told Jughead who grinned back happily. "Where are they anyway? I expected them to be plastered to your side by now."

"They're probably still changing," Archie said with a shrug as if he didn't care either way.

"Yep, we need to get out of these clothes too, see you three at Pop's," Jughead said walking backward and waving to them, Archie tugged at Veronica's hair one last time before following his best friend.

"So dreamy," Betty sighed wistfully watching the boys leave.

"Yeah," Kevin said matching her dreamy tone and then snapping out of it and turning to Veronica. "What the hell was that?"

"What was what?" Veronica asked innocently and Betty frowned.

"I missed something," she said looking between them.

"Something is a'brewing between our little V and Archie Andrews," Kevin sang out rubbing his hands together and Betty looked at them intrigued, Veronica rolled her eyes and started walking toward the change rooms and parking lot, leaving them to follow her closely. "He kept looking back at her during the game and they were flirting like crazy a few seconds ago, although I wouldn't expect you to have noticed Archie trying to get his hands on her when Jughead was standing in front of you."

"He was looking at Val, she was on the stage behind me and that just now was him just trying to get on my nerves as usual," Veronica said, turning back to face them and stopping just outside the change rooms. Betty smiled knowingly because she was very aware of Veronica's crush on the redhead but she was pretty sure only she and Jughead's ex-girlfriend Toni were privy to exactly how in love Veronica was with Archie, for all of Jughead's attention, he missed the things right under his nose. "B, are you interested in my brother?"

"Well, I mean, I..." Betty stammered, her cheeks getting hot at the attention on her, not expecting Veronica to change the subject and ask her about Jughead.

"What our darling Betty is trying to say is yes, she finds him devilishly handsome and she would like to have his babies," Kevin said helpfully wrapping his arm around Betty, who elbowed him in the stomach and Veronica giggled.

"If you want to spend more time with him, all you have to do is ask," Veronica said cheekily. "We can have so many more sleepovers at my place."

"Oh can we please?" Kevin asked.

"Of course we can, Jug's going to be home a lot more this year because of school," Veronica told them. "He wants to do well in the SAT's just in case Football isn't enough."

"He's one of our two best players," Kevin said shaking his head in disbelief, Jughead and Archie were the best players and both of them were definitely getting scouted to play for whichever school they wanted, most probably together as well because of how well they play off each other. "Smart and athletic, straight people are so lucky."

"It's not my fault he's straight," Betty said throwing her hands up when Kevin turned to glare at her.

Veronica squealed as she was picked up into a bear hug and spun around, she opened her eyes to find Reggie out of his football uniform and ready to go to Pop's.

"Did you guys see me out there? I was amazing," Reggie said putting Veronica down, bumping fists with Kevin in front of him and holding the arm closest to Betty out to hug her.

"You were, we're so proud," Betty exclaimed hugging him, her eye catching Archie who had just walked out of the change rooms and stopped when he heard Veronica's squeal, his eyes narrowing at Reggie's hand that was still resting on Veronica's hip. Archie looked up and caught Betty watching him, shook his head quickly, Betty didn't know if he was shaking his head at himself or at her before walking off with Jughead who narrowed his eyes slightly at the scene as he adjusted his crown beanie but didn't say anything.

"Ready to go?" Kevin asked looking at Betty curiously and Betty nodded only realizing then that she missed a chunk of the conversation between her friends.

"Yeah sorry," Betty said shaking her head and Kevin smirked. "Let's go."

"Jughead got you distracted?" Kevin asked wiggling his eyebrows and Reggie looked at her confused and Betty shook her head. "Just wait till I tell you what happened."

"Do I want to know?" Reggie asked her and Betty just shook her head no. "Well Jughead looks pretty cosy with Harper so I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Do not bring her hopes down, Jughead's just using Harper as a rebound," Kevin said with a roll of his eyes turning to Veronica who was watching them discuss her brother, completely amused. "Right V."

"Yeah," Veronica said casually, it's not like that was a secret. "Even Harper knows it, she's hoping for more but Jug's not looking for a relationship, same with Archie and Ginger, that's why I keep calling them groupies."

"And I am not getting my hopes up, Kevin is just being Kevin," Betty said glaring at her friend and then looking at the retreating figures of Jughead, Archie, Harper and Ginger. "Don't we all have crushes on the hot football players?"

"That's what I'm banking on," Reggie said flexing his muscles making them all laugh, the irritation in his voice from earlier, gone. "If Kevin wants to tease you, just bring up Moose, it'll shut him right up," he whispered just to Betty.

"Why yes Kevin Keller, we didn't talk about your crush yet," Betty said clearing her throat and turning on Kevin, who went pale at the turn of the conversation. "What is happening with you and Moose?"

"Yeah Kev," Veronica agreed turning to him too, as Reggie chuckled to himself. "After B and I caught you two making out under the bleachers we thought there would have been some sort of announcement coming."

"He's still very much in the closet," Kevin said with a sigh. "And he's asked Midge out."

"Oh she's so sweet," Betty said realizing belatedly that she probably shouldn't have said that. "Sorry."

"Yes she is so sweet, and she also said yes," Kevin said dejectedly, Betty and Veronica shared a look, they had a new mission, get Kevin a guy. "Can we get back to 'Ronnie' and Archie please?"

"Urg, that nickname is the worst," Veronica complained. "And no we cannot because there is nothing there Kev."

"Veronica and Archie?" Reggie asked giving Veronica an over exaggerated heartbroken look and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh buddy, do I have things to tell you," Kevin said linking their arms and pulling him to the car.

"Boys," Veronica muttered with a sigh, hooking her arm with Betty's as they followed.

"V, you have had a crush on Archie since we were in diapers, you followed him everywhere, yes I know you said you didn't have a crush on him anymore but who are you kidding," Betty said with a giggle when Veronica went to protest. "What if he likes you likes you?"

"Archie?" Veronica asked as if she had never considered that as a possibility. "I would jump at an opportunity to be anything with Archie Andrews but trust me when I say that he's always been like that with me, I'll always be his best friends little sister, he's not interested in anything more."

* * *

**A/N : Its been almost a month since I've posted, its been a crazy month and since there was no Game of Thrones this week, I had an hour and a half to edit lol ****I hope you guys enjoyed the start of this story, it looks like it's going to be a really long one**

**I have not watched the last few episodes of Riverdale yet, I have been spoiled, I follow the fan accounts on instagram for all the Varchie goodness and omg it looks like they have the most amazing scenes in the finale! I will probably catch up this weekend but I cannot bring myself to watch Luke Perry's final episode and so I cannot move forward**

**Anyway, I don't have any other ramblings today, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I will try my hardest to be quicker with the next one**

**Please review, until next time (^^,)**


	3. Chapter 3

"I cannot believe that your parents are trusting Jughead as the parental supervision tomorrow," Kevin mused as he, Veronica and Betty strolled through the halls of Riverdale high toward the girls' lockers. "That is terrible judgement on their part and wonderful news for us."

"My brother and Archie have a particular knack for convincing my parents that they are angels, as proven by the crazy lake house parties this school has seen since he and Archie got onto the varsity team," Veronica giggled as she and Betty opened their lockers. "I cannot wait for tomorrow."

"I feel like the whole school will be there," Betty said carefully placing her books in their correct places and pulling out the one's she needed for their next set of classes.

"Almost," Veronica said thinking for a moment, she had invited her nearest and dearest and then let her brother take over the rest of the inviting. Her parents were going to take them to the lake house for a little family time before leaving them to their own devices. She almost didn't believe it when Jughead managed to convince their parents to let him and Archie chaperone the 'little 16 year olds' party before telling her to leave it all up to him. "It's going to be his usual crowd, only this time we get to be there and we get to be VIP's."

"That makes me feel very special," Betty said thinking about it as she closed her locker door.

"It really sucks that all these amazing parties literally happened at your house but you never got to go to them," Kevin said and Veronica made a face, up until she made the cheerleading squad her brother looked at her like she was a child in need of protection from the big bad world and that is exactly what he did, protected her from everything, including all the fun. "Is that finally going to change?"

"Well, you guys saw him at the game last week, he's actually offering to take me to these parties, not locking me up in my tower anymore," Veronica told them, closing her own locker with a sigh. "I'll finally get my freedom."

Jughead was fiercely protective of Veronica, to a fault. Their parents were involved but not always present, business took them to all ends of the world and while they made sure their children had what they needed and they were in Riverdale for the major events like birthdays and graduations, everything else just slipped through the cracks, which made Jughead's big brother instincts go into overdrive where Veronica was concerned, trying to be that parental figure for her while they were away. Their parents know this much and it was probably why they trusted him as much as they did with her party.

"Are you sure about that freedom?" Betty laughed, linking her arm with Veronica's as they finally got through the crowd of students to Kevin's locker. "Any time one of the Bulldogs got close enough to you at Pop's after the game, Jughead and Archie were right there."

"I think Archie might have even been scarier than Jughead this time," Kevin mused, Veronica just stood there tipping her head back to the ceiling and waiting for her friends to get over how possessive Jughead was that night, even Archie, who was usually the one dragging Jughead away and giving her some space, was right there, not so subtly letting whoever she was talking to that they were getting too close.

"I don't think I've ever seen you more annoyed with them before," Betty said shaking her head at the memory.

"Oh remember when Reggie decided he wanted to be Veronica's boyfriend on the first day off school," Kevin said with a snort, making Betty laugh at the memory and Veronica scowl at him for bringing it up.

On their first day of high school, Reggie had set his sights on Veronica coming over to their little group seated at the lunch table and throwing an arm around Veronica like they had been best friends forever and then introducing himself to them. Jughead walked up behind them, from wherever he was watching and picked the new guy up like he was a much smaller child, moving him to the side and sitting between them before turning to Reggie with a smile, almost daring him to start something. Archie appeared on Veronica's other side, presumably to stop any other person they didn't know from sitting next to her, eating his lunch like nothing had happened and smiling over at Betty and Kevin as if he had been there for the whole conversation.

Veronica was mortified and while it did nothing to stop Reggie from hanging out with them it did put them off from ever actually dating each other.

"Ok fine, so maybe I don't have that much hope for freedom this year," Veronica said slowly. "But I'm hoping that with this party and me being on the cheer squad _and_ actually being a part of his world, he'll forget that I'm his _little _sister and just see me as his sister."

"In other words you just want him to lift his ban on you dating the hot football players," Kevin laughed and Veronica rolled her eyes, not just football players, anyone. Jughead never approved of anyone she dated, to be fair she had only ever had one public boyfriend who Jughead hated more than anyone and his resolve to keep her out of the dating word until she was out of school where boys could 'think with their heads, not with their dicks', was strengthened when that relationship fell apart as badly as it did. It was a testament to how scary Jughead could be that Veronica had her flings and her brother never found out about them. "Or just one hot football player in particular."

"Would you stop," Veronica chastised with a huff, knowing immediately that he was referring to Archie. "Nothing is happening or going to happen there, don't get your hopes up."

"V, his hopes are already through the roof," Betty said dryly and Kevin nodded, slamming his locker door shut.

"Just you wait, tomorrow he's going to sweep you off your feet and kiss you under the stars," Kevin said sighing dramatically, Betty and Veronica shared a look that said they had lost Kevin to the dream world. Although Betty also knew that there was something changing in Veronica and Archie's relationship and adding alcohol to that tomorrow might just force them to act on it.

"Speaking off tomorrow, are you guys going to be there early?" Veronica asked hopefully and Betty nodded.

"Reg is going to drive us up a couple hours before to help with the set-up," Betty replied and Veronica grinned, her brothers' protectiveness aside, she couldn't wait for her birthday.

* * *

Veronica was woken up extra early on the morning of her 16th birthday to her parents singing 'Happy Birthday' to her. She excitedly pulled her sleep mask off her eyes and clapped her hands together as they presented her with a single Magnolia cupcake, flown in from New York, with a birthday candle burning on top of it.

"Make a wish Mija," her mother, Hermione, encouraged as she had done every year since Veronica could remember, handing her the cupcake and sitting next to her on the bed, as FP perched himself on her desk chair with a smile.

Veronica closed her eyes, thinking for a second of what she wanted to wish for this year before blowing out the candle and grinning up at her parents.

"My little girl is 16," FP said, wiping a fake tear from his cheek and Veronica laughed and held her hands out expectantly waiting for her first gift of the day. "Do you want a hug?"

"They didn't get you anything this year, you're too old for gifts," Jughead said strolling into the room and catching the pout on his sisters face, before jumping onto the bed another one of the Magnolia cupcakes already half eaten in his hand. "These things taste so much better when they fly them in for your birthday."

"Hey, those are mine! Mom," Veronica complained glaring at her brother before turning to her mother and waiting for her to reprimand him. Hermione sighed and looked over at her son who smiled closed mouthed to her, the rest of the cupcake in his mouth.

"Just one day son, you couldn't have just given her one day?" FP said shaking his head, pulling Veronica's attention from her brother back to her father. "Don't worry, there's more in the kitchen."

"If not, Forsythe Pendle the third here will personally go to New York and buy you more cupcakes," Hermione promised, smirking at the disdain on her son's face at the use of his full name. "Now, your father and I have something for you."

"What is it?" Veronica asked, her excitement from before Jughead's appearance back as her father pulled out a Tiffany's box from behind his back and placed it in her waiting hands.

"It's that damn pearl necklace you've been hinting at every time you open that damn catalogue," FP teased with fake exasperation in his voice once Veronica had opened the box to find the delicate band of pearls nestled inside.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she squealed, hugging her mother before jumping up and hugging her father as well.

"Jeez sis, it's too early for you to be this preppy," Jughead complained covering his ears and Veronica just stuck her tongue out at him. "Mature."

"Here, let me put it on for you," FP told her before either of his children said anything else, taking the necklace out and draping it around her neck, tucking her to his side and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Fit for a princess."

"Which is exactly what she is," Jughead said swiping some of the frosting from her cupcake and Veronica frowned at him for his tone and the frosting. "Don't look at me like that, my present to you is babysitting tonight, so you better be nice to me."

"I'm still not completely convinced we should leave you in change," Hermione told him, reaching out to brush his hair out of his eyes when he took Veronica's place and cuddled up to his mother. "You're not the most responsible person, Mijo."

"No, he is not," FP said, a hint of warning in his voice and his eyes hard as he looked at Jughead who nodded, Veronica stilled and looked between them worriedly. "But we all know our favourite girl wants a party with no parental supervision and there is no-one more protective of his sister than Jug is, so of course nothing will go wrong tonight."

"Of course not," Jughead said nodding to his parents nonchalantly and Veronica watched him struggling to keep her poker face on, of course her parents knew what the plan was, this was the first warning that nothing was to happen and if something went wrong there would be hell to pay. "This is going to be the most boring 16th birthday ever, Archie and I will see to that."

"Sounds perfect," FP exclaimed with a grin, he bent down and picked his daughter up in a bear hug. "Once you two are ready we'll head up to the lake house, there's more surprises to come."

"I love the sound of that," Veronica said happily, she didn't think she was going to stop smiling that day.

"We know," Hermione laughed, pressing kisses to both her children's heads. "Breakfast will be waiting when you're done."

"They know," Veronica hissed getting back into bed as soon as her parents were out of her room.

"Of course they know," Jughead snorted like it was the most obvious thing in the world, lying flat on his back and tossing one of her teddy bears up into the air and catching it. "They know everything, they just need to warn us to be careful and not talk about it so they have plausible deniability, as long as no-one gets hurt, maimed or killed on our property, they don't care."

"Then what was that look between you and dad?" Veronica asked, she was sure that he was going to shut down her night by the way he looked at Jughead. Until then she had always assumed her parents were oblivious to Jughead's wild lake house parties, she and Jughead were left alone for long periods of time, with only phone calls from their parents were they could easily lie about what was happening, their ignorance was expected.

"He's just concerned because his precious little baby is going to be the centre of attention at this party," Jughead scoffed. "He expects me to keep you far away from alcohol and drugs and boys looking to 'steal your virtue'."

"That does sound boring," Veronica said making a face and Jughead snorted, she knew that alcohol would definitely be there and Jughead would never allow drugs at any of his parties, but as for boys, she could probably sneak around her brother if someone caught her eye tonight. "You can lie to dad, right?"

"Please, I'm an expert by now," Jughead grinned, tossing the bear to her before jumping off the bed and pressing a kiss to his sister's cheek. "Happy Birthday kid."

Veronica took a deep breath and flopped back onto her bed smiling happily to herself, she was finally 16, she felt like she had been waiting for this day forever and it was finally here, she couldn't wait for tonight.

* * *

"Oh my goodness, V," Betty gasped when she entered the Jones' Lake House to find her best friend in her floor length princess gown, complete with a crown on her head and pearls around her wrist and neck. "You look gorgeous."

"I was going for dramatic," Veronica said striking a pose for them, making her friends laugh.

"Wow," Reggie said.

"You definitely nailed that," Kevin told her, snapping a few pictures as Betty ran over to hug Veronica. "Happy Birthday."

"Wow," Reggie repeated, just standing there and staring at her and Veronica shook her head at him motioning the boys over for a group hug.

"Thank you," Veronica said when they broke apart, grasping the sides of her dress and puffed it up to show how big the bottom was. "I'm only wearing it until the party starts, then I'll change into something that requires less space to move around in."

"The crown stays," Kevin said grinning at her and Veronica nodded, obviously, she was truly a princess today.

"Oh you guys are here early," Hermione exclaimed spotting Veronica's friends as she entered the room. "There's still cake in the kitchen from earlier."

"And Jughead didn't finish it?" Betty asked, remembering some of the sleepovers she had at Veronica's where they always had junk food for midnight snacks, until Jughead saw them, he was like a human garbage disposal. Hermione just rolled her eyes at her son's appetite.

"He tried but Archie called so he ran out to meet him and the girls," Hermione told them and Betty and Veronica shared an annoyed look at the mention of 'the girls', they really didn't want to spend any more time than necessary with Ginger and Harper. "Didn't you see him come through here?"

"Archie probably parked at the back," Veronica supplied, because their families were so close, this house was practically Archie's, he knew the back roads and shortcuts in and out better than she did.

"So where's this cake?" Reggie reminded them and Hermione smiled and tiled her head toward the kitchen.

"Follow me," she said motioning for them to follow her.

Veronica snorted when Reggie mouthed 'I love this woman' to her, pointing to her mother as they followed Hermione into the kitchen, she twirled in the big open space of the foyer and smiled to herself, she loved the feeling that dress gave her. She gasped when she looked up toward one of the entrances to the room and saw Archie come to a complete stop at the doorway, his mouth dropping open slightly as he stared at her.

She blushed at the awe on Archie's face and took the time he was taking to check her out to take in how good he looked in his slacks and shirt, his hair slicked back, not as bad as Reggie's but just enough. Veronica bit the inside of her lip and picked the sides of her dress up, giving him a curtsy and then letting it flutter back down to show off the dress to him.

"My Lady," he said striding forward and bowing to take her hand to place a kiss on her knuckles looking like the red haired prince she had always imagined him to be, her heart fluttered uncontrollably in her chest at the feeling of his lips on her skin. "Happy birthday Ronnie."

"Thank you Archikins," she said giggling when he hugged her, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck as he picked her up and spun her around.

"That name," he snorted, tucking his face into the crook of her neck, Veronica blinked, confused at the extended hug but just closed her eyes and enjoyed it, her fingers slipping into his red hair, if he wasn't letting go then she wouldn't either. She loved the way he held her when they hugged and the smell of his cologne and the way she fit in his arms, especially in these heels where he didn't have to bend down for her arms to be around his neck. "Nice crown."

Veronica didn't say anything to that just frowned slightly when he pulled back so they weren't pressed up against each other anymore, she just held her breath and openly stared at him as he reached out to prod the crown on her head, his eyes on what he was doing. Archie still had a hand on her hip and hers were on his chest while he messed with her crown, Veronica bit down hard on her lip to keep from smiling widely at what they might look like standing like this, how much of a couple they might look like.

"Hey V," Betty said clearing her throat and Veronica and Archie stepped apart and turned toward her. "We were just wondering what was keeping you."

"It's my fault, I came to find the birthday girl before she got swept up by everyone and I didn't get a moment alone with her," Archie said with a grin aimed at Betty, who just raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly, her eyes glancing toward Veronica who was biting down on her lip to keep her smile from taking over her face but Betty could see her best friends eyes sparkling. "Is Jughead already in the kitchen?"

"Yes, you might want to get there quickly before he eats everything," Betty said dryly rolling her eyes and Archie chuckled, squeezing Veronica's hand once before letting go and walking toward the noise in the kitchen.

"I … later," Veronica said shaking her head and pulling Betty with her to kitchen without another word.

* * *

"We are leaving, are you sure you will be fine without us?" Hermione asked after the cake had been finished and Veronica started to get antsy looking at the clock every 30 seconds. Hermione grabbed her son's chin and tilted his face down so she could look into his eyes. "No drugs, no alcohol, no funny business."

"Yes ma'am," Jughead said with a serious nod and Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly before turning her attention to Archie who smiled and nodded as well.

"Relax, Jug and Archie both know the rules and they know that we will be here much too early in the morning for them to hide any evidence," FP chuckled, walking past and hooking an arm around his wife's shoulders to pull her away. "And you my princess, have all the fun tonight, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That is a very short list FP," Hermione commented making the other teenagers chuckle, as she waited for him to hug Veronica and let her have a chance. "Andre will be close by if you need anything, emergency numbers are on the fridge and in my room just in case-"

"They know where all the panic buttons are," FP laughed waving to them as he directed his wife out and leaving the teenagers to their party.

"Literally the coolest parents ever," Kevin commented, watching them go and Veronica and Jughead shared an amused look.

"Well now that they're gone, we can begin," Jughead said grinning at them. "Chuck will be here soon with the drinks, Doyley is bringing the music and V, you can show off your new toy while we show the girls around the house."

"Urg," Veronica said, making a face at her brother as he led his friends out of the kitchen, but smiled when she turned to her friends with the biggest smile, holding up a key that fit into the shiny new convertible parked in the garage. "Guess who can finally stop relying on you guys to take her places."

"The streets of Riverdale are not ready for this," Reggie teased grabbing the keys out of her hands and racing Kevin down to the garage to see the car.

"So what did I disturb when I walked in earlier?" Betty asked placing a hand on Veronica's arm to stop her when she went to follow.

"Nothing interesting," Veronica assured her knowing exactly what her best friend was thinking and Betty narrowed her eyes at her friend curiously. "Betts have I ever lied to you?"

"That's how you're going to play this?" Betty laughed.

"Fine, have I ever lied to you successfully," Veronica conceded with a roll of her eyes and Betty looked at her smugly because no, Veronica has never been able to successfully lie to her, Betty always got the truth out of her. "I promise that all you saw was a hug and all it was, was a hug."

"That looked like so much more than a hug, V," Betty said shaking her head. "You looked like a couple."

"It felt like that too," Veronica confessed shyly, a blush tinging her cheeks. "I don't know how to explain it, we've hugged plenty of times before, this time was just … different."

"Still think he doesn't like you in a romantic way?" Betty asked and Veronica shot her a dry look. "I'm just saying, what I saw just now was not platonic, on either side."

"So why hasn't he done anything?" Veronica asked and then made a face as she looked up toward the second floor rooms where she assumed he was with her brother and the girls. "And why is he with Ginger."

"Because Ginger is a leech, have you tried getting rid of her? It's not easy," Betty said seriously and Veronica giggled, she loved it when Betty showed her inner mean girl. "As for Archie, maybe he has the same concerns that you do, the two of have always had a sweet relationship, you've known each other since you were born, maybe he's scared that doing something might ruin it."

"Maybe," Veronica said biting her lip and thinking about her relationship with Archie, the last thing she wanted was to ruin what they had but what if the end result was worth it.

"And of course he's probably terrified of your brother," Betty said and Veronica gave a short laugh, Archie might be the only person not terrified of him. "You know how Jughead can get with you and boys, he let you have your way once and you got your heart broken, he's probably going to keep anyone, even his best friend, away from you for as long as he can."

"Jughead only has power until he leaves for college" Veronica said with a roll of her eyes. "As for Archie …. To be continued I guess."

"You say that like you've just met him," Betty laughed as they started walking again.

"In some ways it feels like I have," Veronica replied, sure she's always known Archie, but an Archie that's interested in her? That's someone she's only just met.

* * *

**A/N : Hey guys, do you still remember that this story exists? lol so things will hopefully be getting a little more relaxed in the coming weeks with work and life so I hope that my uploading gets better as well**

**I have written about 3 chapters ahead so I do have a pretty good idea of where this story is heading, I have hit a bit of writers block so I'm a little worried but I feel like I might just be panicking for nothing but omg do I need to edit**

**I hope you guys are enjoying this story and the innocence of Varchie, I wanted a Veronica who was still very show Veronica but also alot more childish and innocent than she is on the show, I'm excited and kinda nervous for you guys to see where I go with this story**

**Please review and let me know what you think**

**Until Next Time (^^,)**


	4. Chapter 4

Veronica was having the time of her life, she had all her classmates in the room with her, Josie and the pussycats were performing her favourite songs, one of the guest rooms in the house was packed to the brim with presents all for her and this party would not only secure her popularity but she would now be known as Veronica Jones and not just as Jughead Jones' little sister.

"Guys," Veronica screamed throwing her arms around Kevin and Reggies shoulders and allowing them to lift her off her feet when they stood up straight. "It's my birthday."

"It is," Betty laughed as Veronica threw her head back and then moved it from side to side with the beat. "How much have you had to drink?"

"I don't know," Veronica said letting go of the boys shoulders and hopping to her feet. "I think my brother is keeping count though."

"Where is that gorgeous brother of yours?" Kevin asked looking around and Veronica pointed back toward the dance floor making Kevin frown. "That answered nothing."

"He's by the kegs outside with Harper," Betty said, her eyes on Veronica's older brother who was refilling Harper's beer cup.

"Keeping tabs on him, are you?" Kevin chuckled, nudging Betty who snapped out of her reverie and looked back at them with a questioning face.

"Yeah, we haven't had enough to drink," Reggie told them ignoring the other conversation and taking both Veronica's hands, walking back to lead her off the dance floor. "Come on, more shots."

"I love the way you think Reg," Veronica laughed using his hand to spin herself as she continued to dance her way around him.

"You have way too much energy," Betty giggled holding her hand out to take the little shot glass that Reggie handed over to her once they reached the bar where Chuck was happily pouring out shots.

"To me!" Veronica said happily.

"To you," the three of them chorused, like they had been doing since the beginning of the night and then downing the shot.

"That was disgusting, what was in it?" Kevin asked doing a full body shiver at the taste of the alcohol, if he was going to throw up, that would definitely be the reason.

"I don't know, Chuck gave it to me when I said it was for the birthday girl," Reggie defended, sticking his tongue out as if that would rid him of the taste. Betty just grabbed Reggie's beer and took a few sips to chase it down, frowning at Veronica who shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

"Oh I love this song, Cheryl!" Veronica screamed practically sprinting back into the crowd where Cheryl and some of the cheerleaders had gathered to do the choreographed dance that they had recently memorised for a part of this song for one of their cheers. Josie and the Pussycats had finished their set and the DJ had taken over.

"This is when I'm thankful I did not become a vixen," Betty laughed, watching with the rest of the crowd as the girls did some complicated move that Betty was amazed Veronica could still do after the amount of alcohol she had in her system. "That is too many moves to remember."

"Please, if you put your mind to it, you would be better than any of them," Reggie told her throwing an arm around her and tugging her into a hug as she blushed, Reggie has always been very affectionate with them and it always caught her off-guard because he was one of those guys that didn't look like the big teddy bear he actually was.

"Thanks Reg," she whispered keeping her arms wrapped around him until she saw Veronica barrelling toward them and let go of him so she could brace for the impact of the very drunk birthday girl.

"That was so much fun," Veronica squealed, her arms around Betty who had to lean heavily on Reggie to stop them both from toppling over, both of them giggling. "Kevin, we missed you out there, with those strong arms."

"Hmm," Kevin said distractedly, blinking as he focused on them, Betty and Veronica looked at each other confused before craning their heads to see where his attention was and then turning back to each other with understanding eyes. "No don't look like that, I just glanced over there for a second."

"What? What where you staring at? What did I miss?" Reggie asked looking in the direction the girls looked earlier and frowning when he didn't see anything out of place. Betty took a hold of his jaw and moved his face too look at Midge and Moose making out. "Oh, do you want me to go punch him? I could just walk up to him and punch him."

"As sweet as that offer is, I'd rather we don't cause a scene on V's birthday," Kevin said with a sigh. "I'd like to stay in Jughead's good books."

"You're one of my best friends," Veronica laughed, patting Kevin's cheek. "You're always in his good books," she told him and Kevin stood up straighter with a bright smile on his face.

"The offer still stands," Reggie said and Kevin nodded with a sigh.

"It's not necessary, we aren't exclusive, he can make out with whoever he wants to make out with," Kevin told them. "Especially if that someone is his girlfriend."

"Jug!" Betty exclaimed when she saw him appear behind Veronica and then blushed a deep shade of red when she realized how excited she sounded and looked at Kevin who's mood had just dramatically improved, this is why she stayed away from alcohol.

"You're right B, our moods need lifting, we should chug, Reginald, the ladies would like a beverage to chug," Veronica said in her most regal voice and posture, pointing to the crown still on her head and then to Reggie who nodded but made no effort to move.

"No, V," Betty laughed pointing behind her and Veronica turned to see her brothers amused face staring down at her.

"Oh, she said Jug," Veronica said giggled. "Hi Juggy."

"The only thing the ladies should be chugging right now is water, I think that's enough for you," Jughead told her, flicking her forehead and she stumbled back into Kevin who caught her but still shook her head no. "No?"

"Nope … Archie!" she yelled catching sight of him walking past them with and the redhead raised his eyebrows and pointed to himself. "Yes you, I don't know any other Archie."

"What's going on here?" he asked telling Ginger to carry on when she started to follow him and came up to stand next to Jughead propping an elbow on his friends shoulder to lean on him.

"I want another drink but Juggy said no," she explained, blinking far too many times and Archie pressed his lips together to keep himself from laughing and then looked over to Jughead who just rolled his eyes and shrugged as if to say he was done, it was Archie's turn to deal with her.

"Ok, let's get you another drink," Archie said draining the beer from his plastic cup and handing it over to Jughead. Veronica watched as Archie rolled up his sleeves and felt a shiver go down her spine at the sight (How could forearms be sexy?), before he bent to hook an arm around her and throw her over his shoulder. "We'll be back."

"Wait no, what about my friends?" Veronica asked reaching out toward them as Archie carried her to the kitchen, Kevin's jaw was dropped, Betty gave her a thumbs up, looking excited and Reggie just looked on as uninterested as Jughead was. "Your shoulder is in my gut."

"I'm sorry your highness," Archie laughed, gently setting her down on a stool when they were in the kitchen. She looked around at the empty room and wondered why no-one was wandering in here, but then she remembered Jughead having everything set up away from the kitchen and stairs to avoid too many people wondering in here or up to the locked bedrooms. "Here, try this."

Veronica took a sip from the cup that he handed her and then made a face as she swallowed. "This is water."

"I know," Archie said smugly leaning on the counter, close to her and Veronica sucked in a sharp breath. "Drink, Jug and I have a surprise for you and we don't want you passed out before it gets here."

"More surprises?" Veronica asked perking up and Archie nodded. "When?"

"Hopefully soon, do you think you can keep from passing out until then?" Archie asked dipping his head to look into her eyes and Veronica nodded enthusiastically and smiled up at him, the butterfly's fluttering in her stomach was making staying upright very difficult.

"You know, you don't need to talk to me like I'm a child," she said primly, scrunching up her face slightly and Archie shook his head, amused. "I'm 16, I'm not a kid anymore."

"It's been a while since I've seen you as a kid, babe," he chuckled and she opened and closed her mouth, trying to find an appropriate response to that, swallowing hard when he inched just a little closer and smiled.

"Juggy still thinks so," she said just for something to say and then got lost on that train of thought. "He didn't enjoy himself at all did he?" Veronica asked making a face, she didn't want her brother to spend the whole night being worried about everyone else.

"He did," Archie assured her, as she put her elbows onto the counter and dropper her head to her hands, shaking her heavy head. "Jughead's just a little paranoid because it's your party and he wanted to make sure nothing went wrong, you know how high strung he can be when you are involved."

"He's my favourite big brother, don't tell him I told you that," Veronica giggled picking her head up and Archie swiped his fingers across his lips imitating a zipping motion, resisting the urge to tell her that Jughead was her only brother. "But he needs to relax."

"I always keep your secrets," Archie said and Veronica blinked at him lazily, smiling as she thought about how true that was.

Archie was the person who always showed up when she couldn't understand her own thoughts and needed someone completely out of the situation to talk to, he and Toni had been her brothers best friends all her life so they were always a pretty big part of hers too. He was there when Nick St Clair broke her heart the day after she lost her virginity to him and couldn't bring herself to tell her brother or find Toni to tell her why she was so upset, although the black eye and broken nose Nick was sporting after Archie got a hold of him made her feel a lot better. He was the one who talked her out of her first big fight with Jughead, when Toni took her brothers side and she needed someone to have her back. He always kept her secrets, even from Jughead, always had her back, even if they weren't that close, she knew she could count on him.

"I know, it's going to suck when you guys are gone next year," she told him in a small voice and Archie smiled. "The football team is going to lose every game and we're going to be cheering for nothing."

"And here I thought you were going to miss me for my dazzling personality not my football skills," he said laughing and Veronica rolled her eyes and punched his arm, injuring herself more than him. "Have some faith in your boyfriend he's actually pretty good."

"Boyfriend?" Veronica asked confused before realizing he was talking about Reggie and shook her head. "Oh no, Reggie wishes he was my boyfriend, no, that's a lie, we just tease each other about that, he wishes he was Betty's boyfriend but shhhhh, she doesn't know that."

"Oh?" Archie said furrowing his brows slightly but then shaking his head looking a little pleased with the turn of events.

"Jealous Archikins," she teased and then immediately flushed red, maybe she should have stopped drinking 2 shots ago.

"Maybe, I mean this completely ruins my chances with Betty," he countered, Veronica could tell he was joking but that didn't stop the uncomfortable feeling of jealousy swirling up at the pit of her stomach at the thought.

"What are you going to miss most Archikins?" she asked turning the conversation back to safer waters. "Riverdale high's exceptional cheerleading squad swooning over your every move," she said dramatically and Archie chuckled scooting a little closer to her.

"Just one cheerleader," Archie said holding up a finger and Veronica raised an eyebrow, she didn't realize he and Ginger were getting serious. "She looks ridiculously sexy in her cheerleading outfit, she's going to be bad for my football career this year, I couldn't keep my eyes of her," he said watching her and Veronica could feel her heartbeat pick up as she waited for him to continue. "I've always known she was gorgeous and way out of my league but recently, she just took me completely by surprise."

"Surprise is good," Veronica croaked out waiting for him to tell her who this girl was because he was looking at her like he might just confess something she could only dream off but it couldn't have been her, her luck was never this good. Right?

"And then today ... it's like every time I see her these days, my breath is taken away," he said in almost a whisper and Veronica held her breath. "Even now, when she's kinda drunk and looking at me like I'm going to tell her that I'm going to miss one of the cheerleaders out there that mean absolutely nothing to me."

"Me?" she asked, either she was drunker than she thought or he just told her that he wanted her. Archie smiled, his eyes dropping to her lips and then back up to her eyes, Veronica, feeling brave after his reaction, brought a hand up to rest against the side of his neck, her thumb running back and forth over the stubble. He moved forward and Veronica felt like she couldn't breathe, even in her brazen drunk state she was frozen.

Veronica let her eyes slip shut as his lips met hers, bringing her other hand up to the back of his head and pulling him closer to her, her mouth opening against his. She threaded her fingers through his hair as their tongues met, her dress hiking up when he pushed her legs apart to stand between them. Their hands were every where, trying to touch as much of each other as they could, drunkenly fumbling to pull the other closer.

There was loud cheering just outside the door and Archie and Veronica broke apart to look toward it thinking they had been caught and then frowning at their moment being ruined when they realized they were alone.

"That must be your surprise," Archie mentioned, clearing his throat and breathing heavily. Veronica pulled her dress down, adjusting herself and looking anywhere but him as he did the same.

"Give me a second," she said when he reached out a hand to her, breathing out slowly to try and calm her racing heart and using the reflection of the fridge to make sure she looked acceptable. She took a deep breath, her eyes catching Archie watching her in the reflection and she smiled and nodded. "Okay."

"Wait," Archie whispered, reaching up to adjust her crown, to touch her one last time before opening the door and letting them out into the crowd, he knew that if they stayed in there any longer, Jughead would come looking and he wasn't about to let Jughead in on this little secret until he had spoken to a sober Veronica.

They followed the cheering outside where a girl was being helped down, after hanging upside down over a keg and Veronica gasped loudly when she saw the pink highlighted hair and biker outfit of the girl that was high fiving everyone around her, realizing who it was. "Toni!"

"V," Toni squealed just as excitedly, holding a hand out before Veronica crashed into her so that she could get her bearings, she was still a little wobbly from being suspended and drinking all that beer just seconds before, once she felt stable enough, she tugged the birthday girl in for a hug. "Happy Birthday babygirl."

"What are you doing here?" Veronica asked pulling away to look at her brothers ex-girlfriend. "I thought you were only coming back after your exams."

"You didn't really think I would miss your sweet sixteen did you?" Toni asked and Veronica shook her head and hugged her again.

"I missed you so much," she said finally letting go.

"I missed you too," Toni said pinching Veronica's cheek. "Where were you when I walked in? I expected you to be dancing on the tables by now."

"Jug and Archie thought I was going to pass out before you got here so they made me sober up," Veronica said rolling her eyes and turning to face the boys.

"It actually worked," Jughead said taking in the less inebriated version of his sister. "What'd you do to her Arch?"

"Water," Archie said with a chuckle. "If I knew I could get away with it, I would have doused her with it."

"That would have been epic," Jughead laughed and Veronica just glared at them, her playful expression turning shy when she locked eyes with Archie.

"Turns out I didn't need to," he commented pushing a hand through his hair with a nervous chuckle to which Toni raised her brow. "Antionette," he greeted.

"Archibald," Toni replied with a laugh reaching out to hug him.

"Nice of you to make it," he teased and she laughed.

"Nice of you to invite me," she shot back, Archie smiled and then blushed deeply when Toni furrowed her brows and wiped off a little bit of lipstick from the side of his mouth that he had missed. "Who have you been kissing?"

"Ginger Lopez," Jughead said with a smirk at Toni's frown. "I don't get why you girls don't like her," Jughead said wrapping an arm loosely around his sisters neck, who had gone still at the turn of the conversation. "This one makes the same face whenever we mention her."

"She's just ... so annoying," Toni complained. "But I was actually thinking that there was no way she would use this colour-"

"Who else would Archie be kissing?" Jughead asked looking over at his best friend who shook his head and shrugged, knowing that Toni made the connection when she stopped talking.

"Clearly Toni has been gone too long, there are so many things that have changed," Archie diverted and Toni smiled knowingly and looked over to Veronica who had her lips pressed tightly together hiding her lipstick colour and so glad that her brother wasn't looking straight at her face because he would have known everything.

"Okay, you boys have taken too much of our time, V and I need to get this party started," Toni said taking Veronica's hand and pulling her past the boys, toward the makeshift dance floor.

"Pshhh, the party was started long before you got here," Jughead called and Toni stuck her tongue out at him whispering something in Veronica's ear, making her giggle as they got to the dance floor, pulling Kevin, Polly and Betty with them on the way. "I don't think Veronica will ever forgive me for letting that relationship end."

"Not anytime soon," Archie said, patting Jughead on the back and Jughead who heaved out a heavy sigh, looking exhausted. "Are you ever going to tell me what happened there? One day you're both complaining about the state of my relationship with Val and telling me that I need to find what you guys have and the next day you're third wheeling with me and T is nowhere to be found."

"I will, eventually," Jughead said snorting at the disappointed look on Archie's face as he looked into the crowd trying to find his sister and ex-girlfriend, they were the shortest ones there so it was hard. "Let's go find Ginger and Harper, maybe they can make this night a little less depressing."

* * *

**A/N: Are we annoyed with me yet? I was not planning of having so much time between posts but I can't promise to be any better because I haven't written any further in the last month, I'm sorry! I thought I would have time to log in and edit and post when I went on holiday, but I went to this little island called Zanzibar and the wifi at the resort I stayed at was kinda terrible **

**I have so many plans for this story, I just really hope that I can write it out the way I have it in my head, so just bare with me, I'll figure out a way to balance out my life eventually and then I can finally do all the things I need to do and make time to write, that is the dream**

**So this chapter ... what do you guys think? They kissed and drunk Ronnie is adorable and I really love this chapter so I hope you guys do too, also I do not promote underage drinking so if you're under 18, don't drink kids (or under 21 for some countries)**

**Anyway, I have nothing else to ramble on about, please review and let me know what you think, I will try to be better at updating this story **

**Until Next Time (^^,)**


	5. Chapter 5

"Wake up, wake up," Jughead said walking into the room and opening the curtains letting the bright light in and chuckling to himself. "Rise and shine, my little fiends, it's time to raise some hell."

"The only thing you're going to be raising is the dead," Veronica groaned as the sun hit her sensitive eyes, she squinted at her brother and then winced at the pain in her head and shut her eyes as tightly as she could. "Which is how I feel right now."

"Mom and Dad called already, they think today is a wonderful day for us to go to the lake," he said glancing at his watch and Veronica's eyes flew open as she pushed herself up, struggling to keep both her eyes open and her body up at the same time.

"No, Juggy, this place is a mess and I can't face them like this, everyone is still sleeping," she started rambling until Jughead squatted down next to her and smiled, waiting for her to calm down and notice that she was the only Jones sibling panicking. "Why are you smiling? You're in charge, it's you they're going to kill."

"Because _I _am taking you and your friends to the lake," he told her, emphasising the I. "They went to Greendale last night with the Andrews, dad and Fred have a big meeting today remember and you know how much mom and Mary like to shop in a place that isn't Riverdale, no matter how similar everything is."

"Well why didn't you start with that?" Veronica asked letting out a relieved breath and slapping her brothers arm. "You could have let me sleep in, dad's meetings take forever, they'll probably end up staying there tonight as well."

"They are," Jughead grinned, then frowned when his sister did. "What?"

"I'm glad that they aren't really coming up to the Lake House to see this but I kinda wish spending time with us came before business," Veronica said and Jughead's frown got deeper as he sat of the bed and wrapped his arm comfortingly around his sister. "I didn't think yesterday was all the time we had with them till they were off again."

"Maybe it's just this meeting in Greendale and then when we wake up tomorrow morning they will be at the breakfast nook instructing Smithers to whip us up some pancakes," Jughead tried and Veronica just nodded against his chest to appease him, she knew better than to believe that, it was probably why they were so quick to agree to a Jughead supervised party for her, they had business to attend to and being in town for her would delay those plans.

She knew their parents loved them but she was always disappointed that their business came first, that they would only be around long enough to see that their kids were surviving before taking off again, she was only 16, Jughead was barely 18, they shouldn't have this kind of responsibility, this independence, with only Smither's and Andre as their supervision, they were too young for that.

"And croissants," she said with a sniff to appease her brother, no matter how upset she was with her parents she never wanted Jughead to carry the burden of her feelings of resentment toward them.

"Smithers can't make those, they'll send Andre to get the croissants," Jughead agreed with a chuckle, reaching over Veronica to poke Betty's arm but the blonde groaned and pushed him away, taking another pillow and covering her head with it, Jughead just shook his head and turned back to his sister. "Up and at 'em sis, I did not spend the night babysitting to also do the clean-up in the morning."

"You're the worst," she groaned flopping back into bed and throwing an arm over herself. "I feel like death."

"You look like it too," Jughead teased. "Welcome to 16 kid, you wanted to host the party."

"Give me an hour to sleep," Veronica told him, sounding as miserable as she could which wasn't difficult considering how she felt.

"I would but then you would sleep the rest of the day," he told her knowingly. "Everyone's already up, Toni made breakfast, she's leaving soon."

"But she came so late yesterday," Veronica complained using his hand to pull herself up and out of bed, she sniffed the air and frowned when she realized that stale smell was her. "I'm going to shower first and brush my teeth, I smell like an ashtray."

"That you do," Jughead laughed at the comparison before ruffling her hair. "I'm going to go check the other rooms, see who else is still asleep, if you're not done in 20 minutes I'm sending Ginger up."

"Urg, she's still here?" Veronica asked making a disgusted face and Jughead rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll be quick, if I see her face I might really throw up."

* * *

Veronica trudged her way down the stairs to the kitchen after washing her hair and changing into her most comfortable dress, to find Toni humming along to the radio and cooking at the stove, while her brother sat at the counter eating the leftover cake from the night before and watching his ex.

"Hey babygirl," Toni said laughing when she turned around and caught sight of Veronica trudging her way into the kitchen. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes ."

"It's all your fault," Veronica complained, falling into Toni's open arms and sighing she really missed her brother's ex-girlfriend with her pink hair and bubbly personality. "I was on my way to being sobered up so this wouldn't be so bad but then you came and I couldn't just leave you."

"Oh is that what you were doing before I got here," Toni said with a snicker and Veronica turned bright red as Jughead looked up at them, confused. "I'm just teasing, how's the head."

"I can't tell what's worse, my head trying to split itself open or my stomach trying to turn itself inside out," Veronica mumbled taking a seat next to her brother and laying her head onto the cool countertop. "Why did you let me drink so much?"

"Why did - Why did I?" Jughead asked incredulously. "If we all remember correctly, I said no more and then you got your little friends and Toni to sneak you drinks."

"Oh yeah," Veronica said with a laugh as she remembered that. Toni pushed a slice of dry toast toward Veronica and a mug of black coffee and Veronica made a face.

"Just see if you can keep that down for now," she advised leaning her elbows on the table.

"Where is everyone?" Veronica asked, staring at the toast as if it might become more appealing to her the longer she looked at it.

"They helped us clean up and now they're probably passed out again," Toni said glancing at Jughead who nodded, he heard the shower turn on in his parents room so he assumed that was Betty and she was the last of them to freshen up. "So once we get everyone fed, we could probably drag your hungover asses down to the lake for some much needed fresh air."

"And air this house out," Jughead grumbled.

"You're complaining like you don't do this every time you have a party up here and the boys end up smoking the house up," Toni laughed and Jughead made a face at her, with the amount of parties he had at this place he was an expert at cleanups and restoring the house to parent level approval in record time. "When we get back from the lake it will smell like roses again, we're just lucky no-one puked on the stairs like the last time."

"Ew," Veronica said feeling herself want to throw up just at the thought of someone else doing it and forced herself to stop.

"Come on kid, it's not that bad," Jughead laughed and Veronica groaned leaning into Jughead's embrace when he held out his arm for her.

"I'm not a kid," she mumbled shutting her eyes to try to block out the bright sunlight, snippets of conversation from the night before came rushing back and Veronica felt conflicted, where was Archie?

"Of course not, you're 16 now, practically an adult," Toni said and Veronica couldn't tell whether she was being supportive or patronizing but with the way she was feeling, she didn't care. "Maybe I should stay tonight, you and Archie have no idea how to take care of a girl."

"I have kept her alive long enough to know how to take care of _this _girl without your help," Jughead protested glaring like he took that comment as a personal attack and Veronica cringed, especially when Jughead's grip on her tightened.

"I thought you were leaving early," Veronica said to Toni who shook her head, then she turned to glare at her brother who just shrugged unapologetically at using Toni to get Veronica out of bed. "I could have slept in another hour... or five."

"We let you sleep in as long as we could and I'm leaving tomorrow night," Toni confirmed and Veronica grumbled something to herself, pushing herself out of her brothers arms. "I flew in for your sweet 16 but I thought I'd make use of this long weekend and spend some time with my parents while I'm here too."

"I hate that you're so far away," Veronica complained breaking off a piece of toast to force down. Toni was in her first year in college in another state which meant her visits home where few and far in between especially now that she and Jughead were broken up and there wasn't any reason for regular road trips like they had planned.

"I know babe, but I'm just a phone-call or plane ride away whenever you need me," Toni said reaching out to tuck a stray strand of Veronica's hair away, her eyes sad and Veronica nodded.

"Who stayed over?" she asked, she could not remember much past Toni's surprise appearance and the drinks they had when they got onto the dance floor so she had no clue who was still in her house and who had left.

"Arch, the pussycats, some of the cheerleaders, most of the bulldogs and your friends," Jughead said stuffing another bite of cake into his mouth, Veronica sighed, that really didn't answer her question.

"Too many to mention by name, you'll see when we go outside," Toni clarified, used to being the interpreter for Jughead when he was being extra vague. Something caught Veronica's eye and she looked out the window to find Archie and Val, standing close to each other on the balcony talking, her heart fell to her stomach and she swallowed hard, blinking back tears as the rest of the events from last night when she and Archie were alone came rushing back.

"Oh yeah, they're working stuff out," Jughead told her when he saw where her eyes had landed. "Like people who once said they were in love do," he mumbled that part to himself but loud enough that Toni caught it, Veronica was too distracted.

"They're just talking about some music thing," Toni corrected as she and Jughead shared a look which flew over Veronica's head.

"It's like I've entered the Twilight zone, you guys are in the same room taking care of me like before and Archie is trying to get Val to date him," Veronica said looking at Toni to catch her worried expression and sunk her head back to the counter. "I feel sick."

"You're just hungover," Jughead said rubbing her back and Veronica just groaned in response. "You'll survive."

* * *

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened last night?" Toni asked coming to sit next to Veronica on the blanket she set up for herself in the shadiest part of the lake's shore. All the kids who didn't drag themselves back home as soon as they were awake, ended up down at the lake later that day to enjoy the cool water. Veronica still felt miserable so she took to scrolling through Instagram and Snapchat, looking at pictures and videos from the night before as she tried to recover.

"I don't remember much of last night at all," Veronica said wiggling close enough to lay her head on Toni's lap and sigh when she started to massage Veronica's pounding head. "You are my favorite person."

"Which is how I know that you're lying to me," Toni said and Veronica could hear the amusement in her voice. Toni knew Veronica in a way that no-one else did, Veronica never had to confide in her, Toni just always knew. Like Archie, Toni had been a part of her life since Veronica could remember and for as long as Veronica had known her she had always been Jughead's girlfriend, Veronica always assumed Toni would make the natural progression to her sister-in-law one day, all that had changed now, unless she and Jughead managed to work out their problems, Veronica wanted to believe that they would but she knew them both well enough to know that it was truly over. "Your face was the face of heartbreak this morning when you saw him and Valerie talking, so I'll ask again Ron, what happened last night?"

"Nothing?" Veronica said as more of a question, smiling as innocently twisting her head so she could look up at Toni. "We just talked."

"I highly doubt that," Toni laughed and Veronica rolled her eyes pushing herself to a seated position and pulling her glasses off, wincing at the brightness of the day. "Archie was practically wearing your smudged lipstick, I checked Ginger out to be sure, she was not wearing a colour anywhere close to yours."

"Well he and Val are talking again so maybe I should just forget it," Veronica said focusing on Betty who was being persuaded to do something by her sister. "It was just a kiss, one that made my heart sing, I thought … I thought maybe he felt the same, but Archie has been pining for Val from the moment they broke up, now that she might give him another chance whatever he said or did last night will just be a dream."

"Don't count on it," Toni said with a slight frown and Veronica looked up and furrowed her brows at her pink haired friend. "Archie and Val might have broken up after Jug and I, but they were over for much longer than that, I'm surprised they stuck together as long as they did."

"But Jughead said…" Veronica trailed off, looking over to the lake to Archie who was tossing a football over to Moose, glancing back at her every couple of minutes.

"Jug told you that Archie was still pining for her? I love the boy but Jug has no clue what he's talking about when it comes to matters of the heart," Toni laughed and Veronica turned to her confused, both of those breakups came as shocks to her, she never saw any signs of them falling apart and none of them were particularly good actors, but then again Veronica didn't want to see it either. "If Archie and Valerie spoke about anything other than music this morning, it was probably just closure."

"How can you be so sure?" Veronica asked furrowing her brows.

"It's nothing complicated but you should ask Archie about it," Toni said with a shrug. "Or Val, it's their story to tell."

"Does this mean you'll tell me what happened with you and Jug if I asked?" Veronica said and Toni's mood instantly darkened, Veronica wasn't sure if Toni was going to get up and walk away without answering but then her pink haired friend turned to her and smiled sadly. "I don't get why you had to break up, it's not like distance would have been a problem, you aren't that far away."

"I know," Toni said pressing a kiss to Veronica's head. "It wasn't the distance, we're just better off as friends, maybe one day he'll tell you how wrong we were for each other."

"Why can't you tell me?" Veronica whined, she was very well aware of how much she sounded like a petulant child but she didn't care, Jughead and Toni treated her as their practice child though-out their relationship so they would deal with her now that they were broken up too.

"Because I don't fully understand it myself," Toni said and Veronica could hear the crack in her voice. "I love Jughead, but what we feel - what _I _feel, it isn't ... he's my best friend, we just weren't meant to be the way you think we should be."

"I-" Veronica started and Toni cut her off.

"Veronica, stop, Jug and I fought hard to make things work but they didn't and they won't," Toni explained, gently but firmly, the way she always did when she was telling Veronica things she didn't want to hear. "I will always be a part of your lives, you and Jug and Arch, you are my family, if you need anything, even if it's just to complain about Jughead, I will be there, that will never change, the only thing that's different is that I'm not dating your brother."

"Everything feels so messed up," Veronica mumbled, she wanted to ask more questions but she didn't want to spend the next few hours with Toni being sad or angry with her so she let it go. Toni got to her feet and reached down to take Veronica's hands in hers and pull her up.

"Even if it doesn't feel like it right now, it will work out eventually, I promise," Toni assured her, the emotion in her voice gone and the bubbly girl was back. "But it's your birthday weekend, so ignore this hangover and whatever is happening with your brother and I, and enjoy it, while you're at it grab that red headed Adonis you're eyeing under those glasses and kiss him so that he forgets any other girl on this planet."

"What do you think Jughead will do if he caught me kissing his best friend," Veronica asked and both she and Toni cringed at the thought.

"If something happens and Jughead has a problem with it just call me and I will sort him out," Toni said with a laugh. "But don't worry about your brother, he's just protective, after the initial shock he'll get over it, maybe," she teased and Veronica made a face, if Toni was going for reassuring, that was not it.

"V, get in here," Betty called when they got closer and Veronica sighed happily as she sunk into the cool water. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Veronica said smiling and looking up around at who was left. Some of the Bulldogs and Kevin were still there, tossing a football around, from the girls it was only the Cooper sisters, Toni, Cheryl, and Josie. Val and Melody, the third member of the band, had left after they ate, taking whoever they could with them, which included Ginger and Harper and for that Veronica loved them, if she had to hear Gingers high pitched squeak in this state she would have strangled the blond. "But I could do with never drinking again."

"You said that the first time you got drunk and threw up in Nick's pot plant," Betty said and Veronica snickered flicking water at Betty's face for bringing up that memory.

"He never found out that it was me," Veronica mused, she was trying to show off that night to impress Nick and she got carried away, it felt like such a long time ago but it was barely a year, all Veronica really remembers about that night was Archie, when he picked her and Betty up and snuck them back into her house. She was forced to call Archie because Polly wasn't answering and Jughead explicitly told her not to go to that party so she couldn't call him or Toni and disturb their date for a ride, Jughead would have been furious. She remembers not needing Archie's help to walk or get up the stairs but he didn't know that so she used it to her advantage to hold on to him and enjoy having all of his attention on her. "You can't tell me he didn't deserve that though."

"He definitely deserved that," Betty laughed, Nick St Clair was a strange chapter in all their lives, he blew into town for a year and then he was gone and everyone was happier for it.

"You know for someone who says they obey everything their mother says, you sneak out a lot," Veronica said and Betty shook her head, she only snuck out when she knew Veronica needed her, her parents focused so much on catching Polly that they didn't realize Betty also had her nights of rebellion.

"Someone has to take care of you V," Betty told her and Veronica gasped, she could take care of herself but there were times when she acted before she thought and for those times she was the luckiest person in the world to have Betty with her.

"You're the best friend a girl could ask for," Veronica said hugging her tightly.

"Hey I need to get in on this," Kevin said wading through the water to them, reaching out to hug them both, all three of them descending into laughter. "What prompted this sweet moment? Oh did something happen with Archie last night? The way he carried you away last night I thought for sure he was going to ravish you in the kitchen."

"No," Veronica sputtered as Betty laughed at Kevin's idea of the night before, she didn't know why she was lying to her friends about the kiss she shared with Archie but she felt the need to keep it all to herself, well between herself and the too perceptive Toni. Veronica looked up to where he was and was surprised to find him looking back at her. Moose yelled something at Reggie before throwing the ball and Archie's attention was taken back to them, catching the ball just before it hit his face, almost losing his balance in the process and Veronica blinked and looked back to her friends who were waiting for details. "Nice try Kev but all last night proved was that there isn't anything more than friendship there."

* * *

**A/N : I am so sorry for the wait, I cannot even begin to describe how frustrated I am with myself, this chapter was supposed to be out 2 weeks ago but then I had a bad case of writers block and I doubted everything I was doing and I thought I had to change most of what I had planned for the later chapters of this story but I finally realized that I am not a proper writer, this is fanfiction and you guys probably won't hate me for the fanfiction-y idea's and plot lines that I have**

**But anyway, that was crises number 1, crises number 2 was that I still haven't written anything since we last spoke and that makes me more nervous that you realize but I'm working on it, work has been exceptionally busy and I just don't get the time I need when I'm home, yes I know I'm making excuses but it makes me feel better to make those excuses so ... do with that what you will lol **

**KJ and Cami at comic con this weekend just put me in such a Varchie mood though, and I adore them and their friendship and just how cute they are together and it's given me that inspiration to get back into this world**

**Ok enough rambling, Please let me know what you think about this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, I know it is Varchie-less but it was surprisingly one of my favourite chapters to write, especially Toni and Veronica ****and the Jughead/Toni drama (It wasn't supposed to get that dramatic but my muse had fun)**

**Your regular Varchie content will be back in the next chapter, which will hopefully be next week, if not oooops**

**To the guest that asked, no this will not become a Bughead story, I added that in the description because I wanted to explain adding them as a secondary couple, I will actually take both of those out, I have Bughead planned but for the future, not too sure how far into the future but yeah, I was trying to tag this like an AO3 fic but it confused me and it confused you too, so sorry about that**

**And to the other guest, protective/jealous Archie could definitely be something I add :D smut on the other hand, I am not good with so we'll see where the story goes with that lol **

**Until next time(^^,) **


	6. Chapter 6

Veronica lay on her bed the next day, attempting to read through their assigned Shakespeare play for her English assignment and struggling to keep her eyes open, she was still exhausted from the events of the weekend. After spending most of the afternoon at the lake, they cleaned up whatever was left at the house and then Jughead drove her and her new car back to the Pembrooke where Veronica promptly crawled into her bed and didn't wake up until the next afternoon when Betty texted her to remind her of the assignments she had put off until the last second, stupidly thinking she would have more time for.

"Hey," a voice said from her door and Veronica looked up to find Archie leaning against her door frame, watching her with a smile on his face, her heart rate picked up at the sight of him and she stared at him dumbly for longer than she was willing to admit before she realized that he was expecting some sort of response from her.

"Hi," she croaked out and then cleared her throat, pushing herself up to sit properly on her bed and touching her hair to smooth it down. She was sure that she looked like a hot mess in her comfortable oversized sweater and shorts, her hair in possibly the messiest bun she could bother stuffing it into and her face free of any makeup. Archie had seen her like this before but it was different now that they had kissed. "You can come in."

"Toni and Jughead are talking, I thought it would be best that I leave them alone for this one," Archie said with a sigh and Veronica nodded, sometimes being third wheel to Jughead and Toni was too much work so Archie would hide out in her room until they were done, Veronica loved every second of it and Archie must have enjoyed their alone times too since he kept seeking her out.

"When did Toni get here?" Veronica asked with a slight frown, she hadn't even seen her brother since she got up, anyone could be in her house and she would have had no idea.

"Not too long ago," he said walking over to her pile of presents and shaking his head at how many boxes and bags there were. "She'll probably come see you when they're done with their heart to heart."

"Hopefully Jug doesn't cry too much," Veronica said and Archie snorted.

"How are you feeling?" he asked finally walking toward her bed.

"I've had better days," she told him with a slight chuckle. She was still tired but she had managed to keep her food down now, so she supposed that was a good sign. "Did you stay last night?"

"Yeah, my parents are only back on Wednesday," he said plopping himself down on her bed and then laying down and shutting his eyes. It was normal to have Archie stay over, he hated being alone when his parents were out of town, the guest room next to Jughead's was referred to as Archie's room by all the occupants of the Jones household. At the height of her crush on Archie, Veronica used to sneak into the room and lay on the bed because the sheets still had his scent and she could pretend like she was laying next to him, she cringed at the memory but smiled to herself when she looked over to see him laying next to her in the flesh. "What are you reading?"

"Urm … Macbeth," Veronica told him, needing to flip the book over to look at the title even though she was just reading it because the sight of him had wiped every thought from her mind.

"Light reading," he chuckled bringing his arms up to cross under his head, the muscles of his arms flexing and she almost swooned at the sight of him on her bed, damn she had it bad.

"I have assignments that are due tomorrow," Veronica groaned, wiggling herself down the bed and laying down as well. "We can't all be guaranteed a football scholarship."

"You should open your presents," he said, Veronica turned her face to look at him, his eyes were shut but his lips were curled up into a smile.

"I'm telling you that I have homework and you're telling me to procrastinate further," Veronica deadpanned and Archie laughed, turning his head and opening his eyes to look at her. "You are a horrible influence Archikins."

"No, Betty Cooper is your best friend and knowing her, she would have done your assignments for you because she knows you too well," Archie told her and Veronica furrowed her brows and considered it, it was definitely possible.

"You don't really think ..." Veronica trailed off jumping off her bed and digging through the gift bags until she found the pastel pink wrapped box that could only have come from one Betty Cooper. "There's a card that is probably the most beautifully written thing in the world, I'll read that when you're not looking at me."

"I won't judge you if you cry," Archie said laughing and Veronica scrunched her nose up at him, laying the card on her bedside table and ripping the wrapping paper apart. "So impatient."

"Not all of us care about saving the wrapping paper," Veronica mumbled, opening the box and looking inside. She pulled out a frame that Betty had made with pictures of them from the time they met till now.

"The chronicles of B&V," Archie commented, looking over at the frame when he saw Veronica's expression change.

"She told me that this present was perfect but I wasn't prepared," Veronica said with a sniff, laughing as she touched the picture of them as little 6 year olds hanging upside down off the monkey bars grinning widely at the camera.

"It's about to get a whole lot better," Archie said reaching into the box and pulling out a folder that was underneath the frame, flipping casually through the pages while Veronica finished her reminiscing and looked up to see what he was doing. "Not only did she do your English assignment, she also did a history essay for you."

"I'm going to have to buy the town of Riverdale and hand it to her on a silver platter," Veronica said straight faced looking at the pages Archie was flipping through, she had the best friend in the entire world. "Now her texts asking me about my presents right after reminding me about homework make sense."

"If only Jug was this thoughtful, all I get is socks and that's if I'm lucky," Archie muttered tossing the file back into the box as Veronica texted Betty to thank her for saving Veronica's ass and handing her the sweetest present a girl could ask for from her best friend. "But this does make my gift less special."

"You got me something?" Veronica asked cocking an eyebrow up in surprise and turning to sit facing him completely. She had dug through her presents to find Archie's when she dragged herself out of bed, she was looking forward to seeing if he got her anything but she was disappointed when she didn't find his name on any one of the tags.

"It's not homework assignments or these pearls handcrafted by oysters that Jughead said you've been after," Archie said with a roll of his eyes and Veronica snorted, her hand unconsciously reaching to touch the string of pearls at her throat, because of course her brother would make her sound that dramatic.

"Would you stop comparing it to the other presents and just hand it over," Veronica laughed cutting him off when it looked there was more that he was going to say. She was pretty sure he could hear her heart pounding against her chest as she waited for him to stop being cute and just give her the gift he bought for her. Archie chuckled as he pulled out a plain black jewellery box from his pocket and handed it over to her, Veronica bit her lip as she took it savouring it for a moment before realizing that he was watching her and if she just sat staring at the box he might think she was weirder than he already does. "Oh Archikins."

"It's a charm bracelet, that you can keep adding to, I picked a couple of charms for you but you can take them out if you don't like them," he told her once she had opened the box, Veronica looked up at him, speechless and Archie nervously wiped his palms on his pants and then took it out of the box to clasp it around her wrist, keeping his hands on hers as he flipped the charms over to show them to her. Until that moment it was like any other day in her room when he was avoiding Jughead and Toni, with her just swooning at his every move and him just being oblivious and adorable, normal friendship things but now ... now all she could think about was the kiss they shared in her kitchen and how he was just as nervous around her as she was with him. "This one says 16 because, duh, there's a V for Veronica, Pompoms because I still can't believe you're a cheerleader and ... my jersey number."

"_Your _jersey number?" Veronica teased feeling the heat rising to her cheeks, he wanted her to wear his number, just the thought of wearing something that linked her to him felt strangely intimate.

"They didn't have a Bulldog or Jughead's number and I wasn't really going to find Reggie's number but now that I know he's not your boyfriend ..." he said with a shrug and she wondered if that was true or if he was just backtracking now because he wasn't sure if she felt the same. "You can replace it but since it's from me I thought it should have something that reminded you of me."

"Almost like marking your territory, such a bulldog," Veronica said and then cringed at her own words, her cheeks were hurting at this point from how widely she was smiling. She pushed herself closer to him pressing her lips to his cheek letting her lips linger for as long as she could without being creepy. "Thank you Archie, I love it."

"You're welcome," he whispered, their faces still very close, close enough that Archie barely had to move as he leaned in and kissed her. It took Veronica a second to respond but as soon as she realized what was actually happening she shut her eyes and smiled as she pressed her lips hard against his, parting them slightly so she could capture his top lip between hers. Archie was the one to break them apart, pulling away slowly, it was only then that Veronica felt his finger and thumb gently pinching her chin, holding her where she was. "Hi."

"Hi," Veronica whispered, blinking her eyes open to see him watching her. "Two kisses in one weekend? What did I do to deserve this?"

"I like you Ronnie, I thought it was just a passing thing so I ignored it for a while but it's not passing, kissing you at your party the other night just made me want you more and this might royally screw up everything if you don't feel the same," he said bringing the hand holding her chin up to push the hair that had fallen out of her bun behind her ear, making her shiver and take a breath as she marvelled at the words he was saying, he said something similar at her party but it was so different hearing it when she was completely sober. "But you are the most amazing person I've ever known and I thought I should probably tell you these things before I lost my nerve and hope I wasn't being too optimistic thinking that you could feel the same."

"Archie," Veronica whispered, the smile she had fading off her face and Archie took that as a sign to push himself away from her until she caught his hand and kept it where it was. "You like me?"

"I think I may even love you," Archie blurted out with a nervous chuckle and Veronica was left speechless, even at her most awestruck of moments with Archie Andrews she always had a comeback or topic change, until now.

Veronica didn't say anything, her heart was beating so wildly she thought she might pass out but then her eyes dropped to his mouth and her lips followed soon after. "Archie if you're just saying this because someone put you up to it or you're messing with me to see what I would say..." Veronica started, breaking apart from him when her insecurities took over and Archie frowned deeply as if he was offended by that thought. "I just ... I don't think I could survive you playing with my feelings."

"I would never do that," he told her firmly, his honey brown eyes holding hers trying to convey how serious he was. "Even without me falling for you, you are too important to mess around with."

"I am?" she asked softly and he nodded.

"You are," he confirmed pushing himself away from her slightly. "We should not be doing this, your brother would probably kill me if he knew that my intentions with you were anything more than friendly, as far as next year goes I'm going to be far enough away from Riverdale that seeing each other would be rare and this is the worst timing but I'm way to selfish to leave without knowing what this could be, I want to try, if you'll have me."

"I never thought the day would come when I would actually hear you say those words," Veronica said shaking her head and then bringing a hand up to pinch herself hard on her forearm. "Ow."

"What?" Archie asked concerned when she jumped, taking her arm in his hands and then raising a confused eyebrow to ask why she would do that.

"Just making sure I wasn't dreaming," she said softly, Archie shook his head and flicked her nose with his finger, chuckling when she shot him an annoyed look.

"All real," he told her.

"I want to try too," she said and Archie gave her his most blinding smile before kissing her again and Veronica let herself completely melt into it, lifting herself up so she could place her hands on his shoulders, pushing him down onto the bed, both of them giggling as his back hit the pillows and she fell on top of him. "Archikins, my door is open."

"Not what I wanted you to be thinking about," Archie huffed and Veronica just smiled kissed him again, she didn't want her brother to walk in on them and see this but she was too happy lazily making out with Archie to get up and close it.

A door banging in the house broke them apart and Veronica looked back at her open doorway before looking at Archie who frowned and waited, she had almost forgotten that they weren't alone. Toni's annoyed voice came filtering through, telling Jughead that she would be in Veronica's room when he was ready to talk to her like an adult. Archie sighed and stood up when Veronica rolled off him, he adjusted his clothes and then placed his hands onto her bed so he could lean over and give her one more kiss before they weren't alone anymore. "We'll talk later, yeah? I should ... "

"Your brother is the most immature person on this planet," Toni screamed frustratedly as she stalked into Veronica's room not even noticing Archie and flopped onto her bed crossing her arms over her chest and huffing up at the ceiling. Archie and Veronica shared a look and he cocked his head toward her brothers room, letting her know that he will be there getting Jughead's side of the story before leaving. "Sorry V, I shouldn't be dumping this on you."

"What did he do this time?" Veronica asked making herself comfortable, her fingers unconsciously went up to touch her lips and she smiled just thinking about everything that had just happened, she barely registered when Toni started complaining.

* * *

"He kissed you?" Betty hissed into the phone later that night when Veronica called to thank her for saving Veronica's academic record and fill her in on all the things that happened during the weekend. "So are you guys together now?"

"I think so," Veronica said a little unsure. "He said he wanted to try and I said I wanted to try and then our lips were otherwise occupied."

"V," Betty scolded as she laughed and Veronica rolled her eyes. "So Ginger is completely out of the picture?"

"I - I don't know, I hope so," Veronica said, frowning, she didn't think to ask him about Ginger, the blonde wasn't even a thought in her mind until Betty reminded her. "He's staying with us till his parents are back, so I'm hoping that we get a chance to talk alone before then."

"Jughead?" Betty asked slowly, all she had to do was say Jughead's name and Veronica felt her anxiety start to build up.

"I think we all know how that's going to go," Veronica said with a deep sigh, Archie was his best friend and of all people Jughead should have been the happiest with Veronica's choice but she just had a really strong feeling that her brother wouldn't approve. "Like you said before, Archie might be the only person not afraid of my brother but I feel like this needs to be a secret, at least for now."

"Like Chuck was a secret?" Betty asked and Veronica laughed and nodded even though Betty couldn't see her. "I still can't believe he didn't find out, half the school knew that the two of you were dating, mostly because they caught you sneaking into the janitor's closets and making out under the bleachers."

"I think Chuck threatened anyone who saw us, that's how scared he was of getting onto Jugs bad side," Veronica snickered, picking up her nail polish bottle and opening it up so she could start painting her nails. "But I need to be better at hiding this than I was with Chuck, no-one but you and the boys can know, I want to be sure about this thing with Archie, if it even is a thing before I piss off my brother."

"You're worried that Archie is just going through a phase and he doesn't actually feel the same?" Betty guessed correctly and Veronica sighed, if Archie decided after a couple weeks that this was a passing feeling she could cry on Betty's shoulder and that would be it, no-one else would know, she could pretend like it never happened and she could trust him to do the same but if people knew, if her brother knew, then she couldn't pretend, if something happened he would have to choose sides, he would lose the relationship he had with his best friend no matter how they ended and Veronica would not put him in that position until she was certain that he would never have to make that kind of choice.

"I'm worried that Toni was projecting whatever was happening with her and Jug onto Archie and Val and Archie is still hung up on her, looking for a rebound," Veronica confessed wiggling her toes so she could see how they looked in the light and if they needed another coat. "I'm worried that I've been building up Archie as this perfect fantasy boyfriend for so long that I'm going to be disappointed with the real him and I'll mess up something that could be perfect if I didn't have expectations."

"V, first of all, Ginger was the rebound if that's what you want to call it and two, you're not going to mess this up," Betty assured her and Veronica could hear the smile in her best friends voice. "Maybe you've built Archie up in your head but you haven't just been watching him from a distance, you know him, you've known him since forever, he's your brothers best friend and you guys practically dated anyway with the amount of 'double dates' you had with Jughead and Toni, he probably even knows some of your secrets that I don't, he's not going to disappoint you, you know him too well for that."

"Yeah?" Veronica asked, sounding incredibly small.

"Yes," Betty said firmly. "Just talk to him, figure out where he stands and what's happening with Val and Ginger, you've wanted Archie Andrews for as long as I can remember and now he wants you too."

* * *

**A/N: How cute is Archie? I just wanna hug him and never let go**

**Hi guys, I'm back with my monthly update, I can't even promise to try to be better because that hasn't worked, oh well**

**I do hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you think, if anyone is still actually reading this **

**Until Next time (^^,)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Its been a while ... so Recap? Veronica and Jughead are siblings, Veronica is in love with Archie, her brothers best friend, at her 16th birthday he kissed her but they were drunk and then he kissed her again the day after when they were sober 'but Veronica's still not entirely convinced that this is real and thats what you missed with Varchie**

**Theres alot more that happened but you should probably reread the previous chapters if the recap didn't make sense**

* * *

"B, I really hate you for not becoming a cheerleader," Veronica complained later that week as they were sitting at the lunch bench with Kevin. "We have our away game this weekend and you can't come with."

"How are you going to cheer on your favourite cheerleaders?" Kevin asked as dramatically as he could muster and Betty rolled her eyes exasperatedly at her best friends.

"There's no point in guilting me now," she laughed, shaking her head. "It's too late to become a cheerleader even if I wanted to and I have no interest in fighting the battle to get onto the football team."

"We could ask Jughead to sneak you there, my brother's been checking you out lately, he might be able to pull some strings if persuaded by the blond he has his eye on," Veronica mentioned teasingly.

"Are you seriously trying to get me to seduce your brother into getting me to Sunnydale for the game?" Betty asked laughing to cover up how deeply she was blushing and Kevin didn't know whether to think Veronica was joking or serious. "It's one game and one night, you two and Reg will be perfectly fine without me, if anything that one day will let me catch up on all my homework."

"But I need you there," Veronica begged and Betty frowned at the actual pleading in her best friends voice.

"What's wrong?" Betty asked glancing at Kevin who shrugged, also noticing that Veronica wasn't just teasing like they thought she was. "V?"

"I was checking out Sunnydale High with Arch and Jug, to see who they would be playing up against and guess who goes there," Veronica said with a sigh. "And who will be at the game."

"Nick St Clair," Betty said softly, understanding filling her voice, there's only one person who could make Veronica sound that desperate.

Nick had moved to Riverdale at the beginning of their junior year and he set his sights on Veronica from the moment he saw her. He was dark and mysterious, always up for a good time and very charming, Veronica fell hard for him. Jughead hated the mention of him, which made him exactly Veronica's type. She played hard to get at first, pushing him to see how far he would go to date her and being even more impressed every time he went above and beyond to woo her, they dated for a few weeks before they slept together and all that charm turned dark. People started to talk about Veronica being easy and how Nick bedded Jughead Jones untouchable sister but he didn't want her anymore, that's when Archie got a hold of him and stopped any rumour afterward, Jughead was livid but since Archie had already 'broke his face', Jughead settled for making his life miserable in more subtle ways. Nick moved out of Riverdale not too long after that, not even finishing the year and Veronica and everyone else refused to speak his name again, wanting to erase that dark part of their lives.

"I haven't told the boys yet," Veronica said with a sigh, Nick wasn't one of the players but she almost screamed when he showed up in the comment section of one of the Sunnydale players that she was stalking, mentioning that he would be on the side lines cheering them on when they play his old school. Jughead and Archie were too absorbed in the players stats and past game play to look at Instagram comments so she chose to keep it away from them, letting them focus on their strategy and hope that Nick just got lost in the crowd when they were there.

"I'll talk to Polly," Betty said quickly, trying to plan how she was going to get to Sunnydale so she could be there for Veronica if Nick got to her. "Maybe we can convince my parents to let me drive her there."

"No, I'm just being dramatic, Kev will be there and Reggie," Veronica sighed reaching over to clasp her friends hands in hers, regretting the vulnerability she had showed earlier to make Betty worry.

"And Archie," Betty said knowingly and Veronica blushed and bit her lip as Kevin wiggled his eyebrows teasingly at Veronica. "And Jughead of course," Betty amended quickly mostly to stop Kevin from reading too much into that before Veronica was ready to tell him.

"Maybe you can get out off it?" Kevin asked after a moment, the news of Nick St Clair messing with their much anticipated away game keeping him from getting too excited at Archie being Veronica's knight in shining armour. "Stay at home, say you're sick."

"No, I'm not going to let the human form of a Chihuahua scare me into staying away from a game," Veronica said shaking her head making her friends chuckle. "Besides after the embarrassment of Archie rearranging his face he might be out for blood, I refuse to be hiding at home if that happens, I need to be at the front-lines cheering Archie on."

"Let him try to get to Archie," Kevin said grinning. "The Bulldogs will crush whoever comes at them."

"Go Bulldogs," Reggie boomed, appearing out of nowhere.

"Where have you been lost stranger?" Veronica asked him, hooking her arm through Betty's and leaning her head on her best friends shoulder, craving comfort after all the talk about Nick St Clair.

"You are looking at Riverdale's rising star," Reggie grinned, showing all his teeth and reaching a fist across the table for Betty to bump. The Bulldogs had made it all the way to the semi-finals, which was the game they were playing that weekend and Reggie had made an impression. "Don't worry, I'll never forget my OG's."

"That's why we love you Reg," Kevin said crossing his arms over his chest and sighing at Veronica's still too worried face. "Now tell V that if Nick makes any trouble with our guys that we can make his death look like an accident."

"St Clair?" Reggie asked, almost spitting out the words.

"The one and only," Betty confirmed and Reggie sneered.

"Nah, accidents are not the bulldog way, we'll rip him apart limb by limb and he'll know exactly who's doing it," Reggie told them and both Betty and Veronica made a disgusted face at the imagery. "We've got you V, this Sunnydale trip is going to be so epic you won't even have time to think about that guy."

Veronica shook her head and listened as Reggie complained about Betty not coming to the game with them before laying out the plans to them about how the night in Sunnydale was going to go down, how Chuck was going to convince Couch Clayton to leave their bus unchaperoned for the ride home and how they would celebrate their win, because they would win.

"Hey," Betty whispered, nudging Veronica once Reggie and Kevin were engrossed in their plans. "How are things with you and Archie? You haven't said anything since you told me about the kiss."

"That's because we haven't spoken since," Veronica said biting her lip and looking around as if she could spot him even though she knew he was in class at the moment. "Tonight's his last night with us, but he and Jug have plans, I tried yesterday but they were so caught up in the Sunnydale players that I barely got a word in, so I don't know if I'm going to get to talk to him."

"You could just text him," Betty said with a half smile at the obvious solution once her friend was done rambling and Veronica sighed the last place she wanted to have a conversation with Archie was through text but if she didn't get to talk to Archie tonight, that might be her only option.

* * *

Veronica was lying in her bed later that night, staring at the ceiling, it was almost midnight and she couldn't get Nick St. Clair or Archie Andrews out of her head.

Seeing Nick again was making her very anxious, they never actually spoke after they slept together, she woke up alone and he wanted nothing to do with her, he was with the next girl that walked past him, acting as if he had no idea why she was talking to him and all they were was a quick bang, as if he didn't spend months getting her to trust him enough, making her fall in love with him. When he left Riverdale, there was such a weight lifted from her chest and when no-one asked her about Nick anymore, she could push him to the back of her head and sneak around with Chuck Clayton as if nothing had happened. The entire ordeal made her insecure, he was the reason she second guessed why Archie had kissed her the other day, she doubted herself on things that she never would have before Nick came into her life, keeping her heart protected even when an actual relationship with Chuck looked promising and for that more than anything else, she hated him.

Then there was Archie, he liked her, he actually liked her and she was terrified. Everyone knew that Archie wasn't a relationship guy, he never committed, never stayed in a relationship long enough for it to be serious but Veronica knew from eavesdropping and Toni that Archie was a hopeless romantic, he wanted to find the right girl for himself and that meant kissing a lot of proverbial frogs before he found her. So far none of them turned into princesses, there were a few girls that he dated that came close, Valerie was the latest and from what Veronica could see she was the most serious.

Veronica was wondering if she was just one of those unlucky frogs when she heard the soft notes of an acoustic guitar outside her door, possibly in the lounge. She turned her head and looked at her clock with a frown, 00h03, just past midnight, what was he doing up?

Veronica slipped out of bed and grabbed her robe, pulling it tight around her body as she walked toward the music. Once she found him, she took a moment to watch him, Archie sat relaxed on the couch, his legs spread out in front of him, his eyes were closed and he was moving his head to the tune that he was playing. Vegas, Archie's dog lay on the floor next to him, when the Andrews were out of town and Archie stayed with them for an extended period of time, Vegas came to stay as well.

Archie struck the wrong note and frowned deeply, opening his eyes to look at his finger position when he caught sight of her standing next to the couch watching him.

"Don't stop on my account," she said when Archie started to tuck the guitar back into his case, Vegas leaned up to accept a head rub from Veronica as she walked past to sit on the couch next to Archie before going back to sleep. "What are you doing up so late?"

Archie said nothing, just held up a finger and tapped his ear for her to listen, Veronica furrowed her brows when there was just silence and then a loud snore. Veronica started giggling, no wonder Archie couldn't sleep, the guest bedroom he used was right next to Jughead's room and if they could hear his snoring all the way in the lounge Veronica didn't even want to think about how loud it was there.

"I love that my bedroom is on the other side of the house," she joked and Archie smiled.

"Wanna switch?" he asked.

"Or you could just stay with me," she offered and then bit her lip, this teasing would have been fine before, she was on new grounds with Archie's feelings revealed to her.

"Could I?" Archie questioned narrowing his eye's slightly. "Kinda seems like you've been avoiding being alone with me Ronnie."

"If anything I've been searching for opportunities to be alone with you," Veronica countered with an incredulous look, did he really think that she was avoiding him? "But Jug was always around."

"Oh?" he questioned amused, feeling better now that he knew that she wasn't avoiding him. "And what were you trying to get me alone for?" he asked cheekily.

"This," Veronica said leaning forward to take his face in her hands and kiss him, Archie tugged at her hips, pulling her over to him so that she was straddling him. Veronica had just wanted to talk but kissing Archie Andrews in the dead of night in her living room was so much better. Jughead let out another loud snore and Veronica and Archie broke apart attempting to laugh as softy as they could, Vegas whined softly and used his paws to hold his floppy ears down making Veronica jump off Archie so she could sit on the floor next to Vegas and hug him. "He's never this loud."

"He had a lot to drink," Archie explained sliding off the couch as well and sitting on the floor in front of them. Veronica raised an eyebrow because one, it was a school night and two, her brother was more of a social drinker, drinking only with friends, it didn't look or taste like Archie had anything to drink. "He just needed a night to drown his sorrows and talk about Toni."

"Toni?" Veronica questioned. "I thought they worked through their issues before she left."

"Some," Archie told her, rubbing Vegas' nose when he looked up at Archie. "It's just that … Jughead thought he was going to marry Toni, they had plans from the time we were kids that they were working towards with college, their careers, kids, where they would eventually settle down, so when they ended things it threw everything off track, both of them had to re-evaluate their futures, at least Toni gets to do it in a brand new place, Jug is still here, in the same place that they made all those plans."

"Oh," Veronica said looking down a little dejectedly, she never thought about how Jughead and Toni's breakup had affected her brother, just because he seemed fine and jumped straight into a 'relationship' with Harper she assumed he was fine. She always thought she would know when her brother wasn't doing well with his break-up because they were that close, but maybe they weren't as close as she thought.

"Hey, it's not your fault that you didn't know all that, Jughead's been putting on this front that he's perfect for months now, seeing Toni just brought up things he would have rather kept buried," Archie told her when he noticed her face fall, reaching out to touch her chin and tilt her face up to look at him. "I've been waiting for him to crack as well."

"So, he only spoke to you about it today?" she asked and Archie nodded.

"I think he was hoping once he and T had enough time apart, they would see each other and they would go back to the way things were," he explained.

"But they didn't," Veronica concluded and Archie gave her a sad smile and shook his head no.

"Which is also why I think we should keep us a secret," he said and Veronica narrowed her eyes slightly, this was what she told Betty when she spoke to her best friend about him the other day but she was hoping Archie would convince her that her fears were unwarranted, she really didn't want them to be a secret. "Jughead would hate me for this on a normal day but at least back then Toni could persuade him to be on board with us, now, well, with the mood he's in, I don't think it's a good idea, he might just disown us both."

"What makes you think there is an 'us'?" she asked, with raised eyebrows and burning cheeks, wondering why she was even trying to play hard to get after that kiss. Archie just smiled and leaned down to kiss her, Veronica closed her eyes and smiled against his lips, why did they even need to talk? "Wait?"

"Was that a question?" Archie asked laughing.

"No?" she said as a question as well, when did she get so bad at this, with Chuck and Nick and any of the other guys she kissed she was in control, sure of everything, with Archie she was just light headed and nervous. Veronica quickly shook her head of the haze Archie's kisses put her in and focused on what she needed to ask him. "What about Val?"

"Val?" Archie asked confused, his brows furrowing as he let go of her.

"Jug said you're still pining for her and I saw you guys talking the day after my birthday," Veronica said, her rant fading off when she saw the amused look form on Archie's face, she knows that Toni told her that her brother was wrong but she needed to be sure. "What?"

"I don't know where he got that idea from but I'm not pining after her, we were talking about a song that the Pussy Cats want me to help with," Archie said his lips curling into a smile. "Were you jealous Ronnie?"

"Of course I was," she told him with a roll of her eyes, she was done pretending she wasn't that interested to save herself the embarrassment of being too interested. "That was the morning after you kissed me."

"You think I would kiss you and then run back to my ex?" he asked looking a little disappointed in how little faith she had in him.

"Yes, you guys were perfect together, why did you even break up?" Veronica asked, she actually liked Valerie and Archie together back when she thought she would never have a chance with Archie. The boy in front of her just sighed and gave her a look that said he really didn't want to talk about him and Val right now, but if she needed assurance then he would give it to her.

"We just enjoyed the chase over the relationship, before the labels it was fun and exciting, then we got together and it was like we were both just forcing ourselves to stay in this relationship because we had built it up for too long," Archie said, snorting when he saw Veronica's confusion, that answer was not what she was expecting. "Val and I are friends, we're so much happier as friends, and before you ask that next question, whatever friends with benefits thing was happening with Ginger is completely over, did that answer all your questions?"

"I don't know, I don't know if you just kissed me because we were drunk or if there was more and then the other day you kissed me in my bedroom," she said throwing her head back exasperatedly and then pouting at him. "I'm sorry, _you _liking _me _is something I never thought could happen, so there's really nothing going on with you and Valerie?"

"Really," he answered smiling her favourite crooked smile and Veronica pressed her lips together to stop her face from smiling too wide. "And definitely nothing happening with me and Ginger, I thought telling you I wanted to try a relationship the other day was enough but clearly ..." he said trailing off and reaching out to take her hands from Vegas's fur and hold them in his. "Ronnie, I want to be your boyfriend, your person, as long as you're mine, there will be no-one else."

"I'm yours," she whispered, blushing furiously now and Archie chuckled and pressed his lips to hers. "Good," she said with a decisive nod pushing herself up, Archie watched her adjust her robe and start walking back to her room content to sit back and watch the sway of her hips as she walked away from him. "Well are you coming or are you going back to the guest room to listen to my brother sounding like a chainsaw the whole night."

Archie paused, looked warily at the direction of the guest room but shook his head, he needed to be there when Jughead woke up, his friend was in a state before he finally passed out and Archie knew he needed to be a best friend right now even though he ached to just be a boyfriend. "As much as I would love to Ronnie, I don't think that's such a wise idea right now."

"Oh," she said making an exaggerated pout and Archie quickly got up and got to her in two easy steps, tugging her to him by her waist and kissing her deeply. Veronica sunk into the kiss, enjoying every second of it until he pulled away.

"Not wise at all," he whispered moving slightly so she could feel the beginnings of his arousal pressed up against her and she sucked in a shaky breath nodding at him.

"I hate it when you're right," she mumbled pushing herself up onto her toes to kiss him again. She knew she wanted to take this slow, she would be different to his other relationships because she wouldn't be another frog for him, she would be that princess he was searching for. "I'll see you in the morning, Archikins."

Veronica got as far as Archie's arm could reach before he pulled her back in and kissed her again, savoring every moment. "Goodnight babe," he said taking a deep breath as if convincing himself to just let her walk away and not follow.

Veronica lay in her bed staring at the ceiling again, this time in a better mood, Nick St Clair didn't touch her thoughts and Archie Andrews had taken over them.

She was much to wired to sleep, her cheeks were hurting from the smile that hadn't left her face yet but she didn't care. She couldn't believe what had just happened, she couldn't believe that Archie Andrews was her boyfriend, secretly for now, until they were sure and until the time came when Jughead would be in a better place for them to tell him.

Eventually Veronica's racing heart slowed and her eyes finally closed and she finally fell asleep, she was going to be a zombie at school tomorrow but she didn't care, every moment was worth it.

* * *

**A/N: Hi fellow Varchie lovers, how are you guys, its been a while, so life update, I quit my job and got a new one in another province so I had to move which basically meant that since my last update I have been working overtime to get my previous work in order, packing up my life and finding a place to stay for a while and then moving and finally starting at the new job which I thought would allow me some extra time to write or edit but they honestly just threw me into the deep end and I've had little to no time to do much else **

**But all that aside thank you guys for the love on this story and your reviews on the chapter and then asking me when updates were coming, you made me get my fanfiction self into gear and edit this chapter, I still haven't gotten very far in writing this story so I don't know if I'll be able to give you guys any sort of reasonable posting schedule but I will try to be more consistent **

**If you are reading this far in, thank you for loving this story enough to read all the way in, please review and let me know what you think, I know I've made Veronica a little more insecure than I probably should have but its just where my muse took me **

**Until next Time (^^,)**


	8. Chapter 8

"I can't believe you guys are dating," Betty said with a sigh, watching Archie walk toward the group of Bulldogs by the bus after practically groping Veronica on the way there. All he really did was tickle her, his fingers slipping between her cheerleader outfit's skirt and top to touch her skin, but Betty was just going to say groped. "I can't believe I have to keep it a secret, again, could you start one relationship where I am not the only one who knows so I can talk about it to someone who isn't you? Just one, I can't even talk to Polly, the drunker she gets the more she talks and this is hot gossip right here."

"If I tell Kevin and Reggie today, will you stop complaining?" Veronica laughed, it was the day they left for Sunnydale, as an apology Betty was there to say goodbye to Kevin, Veronica and Reggie and wish them luck, Reggie had already hugged Betty, kissed her cheek and then disappeared into the crowd off Bulldogs being briefed on the match to come by Coach Clayton. "I'm the one who has to find moments where I can be with him without anyone seeing."

"I know this has to be a secret until you find the courage to tell Jughead," Betty said with a deep frown. "But I thought this would be the relationship Jughead would definitely approve off, his best friend that he knows would never hurt you and if he did, Jughead has full control over beating him senseless."

"That's an uncomfortable thought," Veronica said making a face at the thought of Jughead and Archie physically fighting, they had had their little arguments before but it never got physical. Betty just shrugged helplessly, Evelyn Evernever made a comment when she passed Betty about how she was so glad they were away and leaving all the boring people in Riverdale and Betty's mood was soured for the rest of the morning. "Right now Jughead just thinks love and relationships are a waste of time, we watched 'The Notebook' yesterday and he made me question their love story."

"Oh that is bad," Betty said trying to figure out what Jughead could possibly have said to make Veronica question her all time favourite couple. "Maybe you and Archie can restore some of that faith in love?"

"I don't want to risk it, especially not when everything is still so new and Jughead's big brother-ness can be avoided," Veronica told her and then waved excitedly when she spotted Kevin searching the crowd for them. "You're late."

"We had to stop at the station," Kevin said looking fairly annoyed that he could have missed the bus all because his father was the police chief. "So V, are you ready to see St Clair?"

"I'm never going to be ready to see him," Veronica said frowning at the mention of him so far she had managed to keep Nick St Clair far away from her thoughts. "But it's fine because even if you and Reg are busy, I'll have my brother and my boy- _Archie_, I probably won't even see him anyway, it's a big school, lots of places to hide I'm sure," she finished lamely, hoping Kevin didn't catch her blunder before she told him what was going on.

"_Your_ _boy_ Archie?" Kevin smirked and Betty snorted, hiding her face as she laughed.

"Shut up," Veronica said with a roll of her eyes.

"Be careful about hiding in Sunnydale, people go missing there like it's normal," Betty said with an involuntary shiver and Veronica and Kevin shared a look.

"Don't tell me, the Vampire's got them," Kevin teased and Betty frowned, Polly once convinced Betty that there were vampires in Sunnydale and they were going to come for Betty if she didn't do exactly as Polly said.

"Oh look Cheryl's calling," Betty said dryly and Kevin squeaked, grabbing Veronica's hand and pulling her toward the bus, afraid to be late.

"Bye B," Veronica yelled.

* * *

On the bus ride to Sunnydale Veronica finally told Kevin and Reggie what was happening and swore them to secrecy, Kevin celebrated like it was the best day of his life and Veronica had to tell him to be quiet more than once as everyone turned to look at them.

Archie's dating record made Reggie hesitate at first, he knew that Archie was a decent guy and Reggie couldn't actually fault him for being unlucky with relationships. Archie never hurt any of the girls that he dated but he lost interest easily, he was always distracted, he never made the effort to keep the girl he was dating with him, there were always other things to do and that's why his friends with benefit relationships lasted so much longer, because neither of them really needed that extra attention. Reggie didn't want Veronica to get her hopes up too high for this relationship but from the way she was talking about Archie he knew that he was too late and any warning he gave would fly over her head.

Reggie looked over at Archie, studying the redhead for a few moments before turning to Veronica and nodding, letting her know that he too approved of this, but teased her for just breaking his heart without even giving him a proper chance.

"So this explains why Ginger has been sulking alone since your birthday," Kevin said and Reggie frowned slightly, he hadn't noticed any of that, but to be fair if something was happening that didn't directly involve Kevin, Veronica or Betty, he didn't really care. "Archie dropped her for you."

"Yep, he's all mine now," Veronica said dreamily glancing up at Archie who felt her stare and turned to wink at her before focusing back on the conversation happening in front of him and Veronica sighed deeply.

"V, even with Harper around, Jughead is practically stuck to Archie's side, he's going to figure this out really quickly," Kevin said amused at the lovesick girl he was looking at, it was rare that Archie and Jughead were not together.

"That's where I need your help," Veronica said with a sheepish smile and Kevin and Reggie shared a wary look. "Nothing crazy, I just need a distraction once in a while so I can have a moment with Archie, Jughead will work out his Toni problems eventually and then this won't be a secret anymore, everyone's happy."

"Sure, sure," Kevin said chewing the inside of his lip pensively.

"Archie is leaving for college in a few months V, I'm pretty sure I heard coach mention that both of them are going to be across the country, how's that going to work?" Reggie asked with a raised eyebrow, concern creeping into his voice, he never had a long distance relationship but he doesn't know one that has ever survived, even Jughead and Toni, who were relationship goals by anyone's standards, failed the moment she left.

"They haven't made up their minds about that yet, maybe Archie will be closer, he is serious about this, about me," Veronica assured them, blushing furiously at her own words, especially when she thinks about how much she trusts Archie and about how serious he is about them even though their romantic relationship is so new. "He won't let distance be the thing that messes us up, I promise."

* * *

"I don't even know why the other teams bother," Kevin said as they cheered the Bulldogs win. "That was the easiest win we've ever had, V your boyfriend was out to impress tonight."

"And impress he did," Veronica said, Archie was on top form tonight, she doesn't think he made a wrong move once. "I can't wait to have him all to myself tonight."

"Alright, keep it in your pants," Kevin laughed and Veronica grinned and blushed, still in awe that she could say things like that about Archie Andrews. "We still have the ride back to Riverdale, how are you going to get him to yourself? The bus is pretty open and I think Jughead and Andre are going to notice him sneaking into your room when you're back at the Pembrooke."

"He's going to sneak into the house through the servants entrance once Jug's asleep," Veronica said with a sly smile and Kevin burst out laughing. "Jughead won't even know that he's there."

"Scandalous," Kevin said, watching Veronica and Archie make eyes at each other across the field. "And very sneaky, V, I want to find a love that makes my eyes sparkle like yours do when you're thinking about him."

"You will," Veronica assured Kevin, hooking an arm through his, Archie was pulled into a conversation with one of their other team members so she was forced to look away. "Maybe if you look away from Moose you might find a guy who could be perfect for you," she said as gently as she could.

"Yeah? Well if you find a guy who's out and doesn't look at me like I'm a secret he's ashamed off, then point him my way," Kevin said with a resigned sigh and Veronica frowned deeply, she hated seeing her friend like this.

"We only have 2 years in Riverdale, there's a whole other world of hot guys out there just waiting for you, Kevin Keller, to take them by storm," Veronica said with a smile to try to make him smile. "You're going to have the greatest love story of us all, just you wait."

"Thank's V," Kevin said with a sigh, he knew she was trying to make him feel better about his dismal love life but he really didn't feel like he would. "You know I almost felt sorry for Ginger, she looked like lost little puppy before the game started."

"And look at her now," Veronica giggled, looking over at the blonde girl who was standing with another Vixen and the Sunnydale players who weren't fast enough to get away, touching their arms, laughing loudly and twirling her hair flirtatiously. "Now that she's not trying to get her claws into Archie, I think I could like her."

"Who are you kidding," Kevin snorted, Veronica was not a fan of Ginger, or even Harper, long before Jughead and Archie became involved with them. "Come on let's head to the bus, Evelyn is giving us the evil eye for dawdling."

"She's so high strung for a cheerleader," Veronica said with a frown and looked around to see most of the Bulldogs and the Vixens still on the field, the coaches were talking to each other and the players and spectators were mingling, winding down from all the excitement of the game. "No-one else is in any hurry, I need to go to the bathroom, wait at the bus for me okay?"

"Going to freshen up before loverboy see's you," Kevin asked letting go of her hand and then gasping and turning to face her. "Or is this a another secret meet-up like that kiss behind the bus before the game, oh are you meeting under the bleachers this time?"

Veronica who was already walking backwards just shrugged, adjusted her sports bag and pointed to her ears to say she didn't hear any of what he was saying.

"How dare you walk away from me!" he yelled laughing to himself, watching as she turned and jogged to the ladies rooms.

Veronica smiled to herself as she looked in the mirror, she looked happy, like a girl who had everything she wanted and nothing to worry about. Veronica dug out her hairbrush and sorted out the birds nest on her head before reapplying her makeup, trying to look put together without looking like she'd spent any time on herself.

"Hey V, make sure all the Vixens are out before you leave," Polly said as she left the bathroom where she and some of the other girls were prettying themselves up for the ride back home as well. Veronica spritzed a little bit of perfume onto her wrists and behind her ears, fluffing her hair and checking to see that all the Vixens were out before leaving herself.

She just turned the corner that lead back to the field when she came face to face with the one person she never wanted to see again, the one person she forgot about because Archie was all she could concentrate on. He was leaning against the wall, hands in his pocket, one knee bent, his head tilted toward her with a smirk on his face, if this was a year ago, she would have felt butterflies and excitement at seeing him waiting for her but now all she felt was dread.

"I thought I saw you walk this way," he said when he saw that she had spotted him.

"Nicholas," she said, once her brain started to function again, adjusting her bag on her shoulder and looking back, hoping that one of the girls forgot something in the change rooms and would come save her. "What do you want?"

"Now, now, is that any way to talk to the love of your life," he asked pushing himself off the wall and walking toward her, that smug smirk still on his face and Veronica's frown got deeper as she stepped back, she felt so stupid for ever calling him that. "Cheerleading suits you, you look hot."

"Why are you talking to me Nick?" Veronica asked, her patience running thin. "Isn't there a whole school of girls that you can annoy, or are Sunnydale girls not into your brand of asshole?"

"Ouch," he said placing his hands over his chest. "I'm just here to have a conversation with the girl that broke my heart."

"Oh, _I_ broke _your _heart, I thought I was just an easy lay and we never had a relationship," Veronica said with narrow eyes, repeating one of the many rumours she had heard. "It also didn't help that I caught you with your ex-fling in your bed the next day, clearly I broke your heart."

"Don't be like that V," he said frowning at the sarcasm in her voice. "She seduced me, I never would have went to her, I was falling in love with you."

"Bullshit," Veronica spat, she hated how he spun his lies, she hated that she fell for it before, but no more. "You felt nothing for me."

"You know how the gossip mill is in Riverdale, they just twist everything around," Nick told her waving off the comment and getting closer still, Veronica looked around looking for the easiest route she could take to get away from him and toward the bus.

"And yet I never saw you correct any of them," Veronica said, feeling frustrated at the fact that if Archie was not her boyfriend then she might be considering what he was saying. The unresolved feelings that she had ignored when he left were starting to bubble to the surface and she was either going to burst into tears or slap him.

"You didn't give me a chance before you sent Andrews after me, he was like a bloodhound," Nick said making a face at the memory and Veronica rolled her eyes and frowned at how close he was but she refused to step back, she was going to stand her ground. "I wasn't done with you yet, V, we still had so much fun that we were going to have."

"I do not have such low self worth that I would have stuck around after you treated me that badly," Veronica gritted out, her lips curling disgustedly as he got so close to her that she could feel the heat of his body without him actually touching her.

"Come on V, don't be like that, it will be better now, you know you still want me," he said walking around her, his breath hitting her neck and she shook her head flicking her hair at him and making him move away. She used to love it when they stood like this before, so close they were practically breathing the same air but now she just wanted him to get out of her space. "We were good together."

Nick smirked when she didn't say anything, just dipped his head down to kiss her. Veronica held her breath and felt her instincts kick in as her knee came up between his legs and Nick yelped and staggered back ward, protecting his groin. When he looked up at her again, his face was set in fury and for the first time ever she was afraid of how Nick St Clair might react.

"You just never know when to stay away, do you?" Archie snapped, stepping in front of Veronica who hadn't noticed him until he spoke. "I would kick your ass but it seems V has beat me to it."

Archie didn't say anything else, just reached out to take Veronica's hand and led her away from Nick St Clair. "How did you know where I was?" Veronica asked when they were far enough away and she felt like she could think clearly again.

"Kevin saw me looking for you," Archie said his face was still grim and he was not looking at her, just making sure he put as much space as possible between her and Nick. Veronica nodded and then when they were far enough away she stopped him from walking so she could wrap her arms around his waist and press her face into his chest, smiling when he automatically hugged her back, exhaling deeply. "I'm sweaty babe."

"I don't care," she said, shaking her head. "Where's Jug?"

"Probably wondering what the hell is happening," Archie laughed, adjusting her bag on his shoulder as he removed his jacket and she realized that he grabbed her bag from her sometime during the commotion. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said biting her lip to hide her smile as he wrapped his jacket around her and shrugging her shoulders up to breath in his scent. She looked up at him to find him already grinning at her as they started walking again, this time just walking side by side, brushing against each other every so often, aware of the bus in front of them, where her brother was with a full view of them, together. "I'm with you."

"I just need to check with Cheryl that everyone's in the bus, I'll be right behind you," Archie told her, letting his fingers squeeze hers once before stopping to talk to Cheryl and Evelyn.

Veronica sighed as she ascended the stairs and came face to face with her brother, who did not look impressed at all. The rest of the students were rowdy after their win, but Jughead just stared at her with a straight face, Harper babbling away next to him but he didn't pay her any attention until he asked her to leave, Harper pursed her lips unhappily and narrowed her eyes over at Veronica for spoiling her moment before getting up and walking over to Ginger and her other friends. Veronica bit down on the inside of her lip as she waited for him to speak but she assumed that he was waiting for Archie before he said anything, the look of disappointment he was giving her made her want to turn back and stay at Sunnydale with Nick. She pulled Archie's jacket tighter around herself as if protecting herself from an attack but she refused to break the staring contest she had going on with her brother, if he was going to treat her like a child then she would act like one.

"Jug did you know that St Clair goes here?" Archie asked startling the siblings when he came up behind Veronica, hand on the small of her back sending shivers up her spine and urging her forward toward Jughead. Whatever emotion Jughead was displaying drained from his face, replaced with shock and then anger but before he could get up the bus doors closed and they started to move.

"What the hell Archie," Jughead growled, knowing that Archie got everyone inside so they could leave before he told Jughead this particular bit of news, knowing that Jughead would kill the boy for even looking at Veronica after the rumours he spread and the heartbreak he caused her. "Where is he?"

"Probably trying to crawl his way home," Archie said grinning and Jughead furrowed his eyebrows at his best friend completely confused. "The kid knee'd him in the nuts."

Jughead took a second to process the words, barely registering Veronica protest being called 'the kid' and then he burst out laughing. "That's my girl," Jughead said wiping his eyes once he had calmed down enough. "You good?"

"I am," she said with a shrug, the thought of Nick St Clair bringing her amusement now instead of anxiety, she leaned into Archie's side when he threw an arm around her as if he were just being her brothers annoying best friend like he used to be and she smiled into the half hug. "Never better."

* * *

**A/N: Happy new year! I cannot believe we're in 2020, my goal for this year is to update in proper intervals, I know how much I suck, its honestly been so long since I have written but I have finally settled into some sort of routine where I have the time to write, that might change because I've moving again next month but hopefully I write enough in the next week that my life events wont stop me from being able to update**

**With all that said I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I hope you remembered what happened in the previous chapters lol **

**When I started this chapter I wanted Archie to be the hero and save Veronica and when I wrote it I couldn't do that, Veronica is badass, she saves herself, Archie is just there for backup and that is true in this story as well**

**Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed, please let me know what you think,thank you so much for the reviews, especially the ones I got in the last week that reminded me that there were people waiting for this chapter**

**I have chapter 9 written but its the chapter I struggled with the most so far, so I dont see it coming out very soon because I am picky and I will re-write it a fourth time, but I will try to keep myself from over-editing**

**Anywho, Until Next Time (^^,)**


	9. Chapter 9

Veronica was bopping her head to the music blaring through her airpod's, it was well past midnight at this point and she was trying to keep herself awake for Archie, she didn't want to be asleep when he finally snuck into her room.

She knew that they were both so tired but this was the night that his parents were out of town so they wouldn't miss him and her brother was already lost to dreamland and she did not want to wait any longer to spend some uninterrupted time with him even if it were just to sleep.

Veronica closed her eyes as she threw a hand up into the air, mouthing the words of the Taylor Swift song she was singing into her hair brush/make shift mic. She swung her hips over to one side and then the other giggling to herself about how ridiculous she probably looked. She spun around and opened her eyes squeaking when she realized she was not alone.

She reached out and grabbed Archie's hand pulling him inside her room before shutting the door quietly. Veronica giggled uncontrollably as Archie pulled her in for a hug, burying her face into his sweater to muffle the sound.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she asked pushing her face off his chest and smiling up at him, she was at the point of exhaustion that she felt drunk.

"No, but I didn't want to disturb your pop-star fantasy," he told her and she rolled her eyes.

Archie took one of her airpod's out of her ears so he could listen to what she was dancing too but the song had ended and another song had begun. Archie took her hand and spun her around before pulling her back to him. Veronica giggled as he dipped her and then brought her up fast enough that her feet left the ground and she was swept up into his arms and spun them around.

"Did you have any trouble getting in?" Veronica asked pushing Archie's jacket off his shoulders and hanging it over the back of her chair once the song was over and they both had pink cheeks from all that dancing and trying to keep their laughter down.

"Nope, the door was open just like you told me," Archie said, kicking of his shoes and cupping her cheeks. "All I had to do was walk upstairs, which is very concerning, I think I need to talk to Jug about locking that door."

"I think you need to kiss me," Veronica said with a grin, closing her eyes as she leaned into his hands, she felt like she had been waiting the whole night for this kiss, the quick good luck kiss behind the bus they shared when they reached Sunnydale with Kevin as lookout, felt like an age ago.

Archie chuckled and leaned his head down slowly, finally capturing her lips in a long awaited kiss. Veronica smiled into the kiss, pushing herself up onto the tips of her toes so she could wrap her arms around his neck.

"Come on, we should sleep," Archie said tapping her nose when she yawned, breaking them apart. Veronica frowned deeply at him but nodded, she was exhausted and she could see how tired he was just by looking at him.

"You know I didn't invite you over here tonight just so we could fall asleep," Veronica told him with a frown pulling the covers back as he shed his jeans, switched the lights off and crawled into bed next to her.

"Oh yeah? And what did you invite me over here for," he teased blinking in the darkness as his eyes adjusted and found her sitting far away from him on the other side of the bed, if he could see her face he would have seen her blushing furiously. "You know nothing else is going to happen if you're all the way over there where I can't even touch you."

"Shut up," she grumbled taking the hand he had outstretched toward her and laying her head on his chest, feeling the awkwardness of them sitting on opposite sides of the bed in the dark melt away. "What are you thinking, Archie Andrews?"

"I'm thinking that I'm really lucky that I got to you in time today," Archie told her wrapping his arms around her, she thought this would be weird, she'd fantasized about him holding her like this multiple times but the fact that it was actually happening made her jittery. She always loved the beginning of a relationship when everything was new and there were always butterflies in her belly and awkwardness from both sides as they tried to figure out what boundaries they could push. "Nick had a strange look on his face."

"What do you mean?" Veronica asked adjusting herself so she could look up at him and see the pensive look on his face. "Nick looked like how he always looked when he doesn't get what he wants."

"Which is?" Archie asked with a raised eyebrow, his only interaction with Nick St Clair was standing in the background when Jughead threatened bodily harm if Nick ever hurt Veronica, actually causing said bodily harm without Jughead when Veronica was inevitably hurt and being there earlier that night when Nick was pressed up against Veronica and she knee'd him before Archie had the chance to.

"Like a baby who's favourite toy has been taken away and they just realized it," Veronica said and Archie chuckled, holding her just a little tighter and making her frown at the creases on his forehead. "Why do you look so worried?"

"Tonight was different Ronnie, I thought he was actually going to attack you," Archie told her and Veronica sighed, she thought that too, but she wasn't going to tell that to Archie and make him worry any more.

"Not with you being there to save the day," Veronica said leaning up to kiss his lips as a thank you, Archie looked like he was about to protest but she pressed her lips to his again, more firmly this time, shutting him up for good. "Nick's an idiot but he isn't dangerous, I promise, you have nothing to be worried about."

"Ok," Archie agreed after a minute, still not sounding completely convinced.

"You know I thought being with you would be awkward, especially since everything is so new," she said changing the subject and letting out a yawn that she hid in her hands. "But this feels like we've been together for years."

"We've known each other forever, Ronnie, I think we've skipped that phase," he promised pressing his lips to her forehead before curling himself around her, closing his eyes already half way to dreamland. "Now go to sleep, I could be wrong, we still have tomorrow morning to find the awkwardness."

* * *

Veronica woke up to Jughead knocking on her door and calling for her, she heard the shower on in her en-suite and smiled to herself that the night before wasn't a dream.

Then it hit her that the night before wasn't a dream and Jughead was giving her his usual warning knock before bursting into her room.

"Shit," she whispered to herself jumping out of her bed and sprinting into the en-suite shutting the door behind her quietly and pressing her ear to the door, listening to the tell-tale sounds of Jughead letting himself into her room so he could talk to her while she was in the bathroom.

"Good morning," Archie said happily, popping his head out from behind the shower curtain and Veronica rushed to him and placed her hand over his mouth, trying her hardest not to look at him completely naked in the shower. Archie raised an eyebrow but luckily didn't say anything else.

"Why are you awake so early," Jughead asked and Archie's eye's went wide in understanding. "I'm usually trying to get you to get out of bed for lunch."

"Betty and I have plans, remember," Veronica called looking up at the ceiling and waiting for Jughead to tell her what he wanted, if she told him to just get out of her room before he decided he was ready then he would sit in her room longer just to annoy her.

"Hmm," Jughead said noncommittally and Veronica rolled her eyes looking up at Archie who snickered softly causing her to use the hand covering his mouth to push him back into the shower. "Why do you have Archie's jacket?"

"Urm," Veronica cringed. "He gave it to me last night after everything with Nick."

"I don't remember you wearing it when we got home," Jughead said and Veronica slapped her forehead and cringed.

"Do you even remember getting home?" Veronica asked turning back to the shower when Archie stepped out, leaving the water running and her mouth went dry as she looked at him standing there with only a towel around his waist and drops of water dripping down his torso, did this boy even have an ounce of fat on him or was he just muscle, that was something she should probably find out.

"You have a point, we were dead on our feet," Jughead chuckled, if she weren't staring at an almost naked Archie she might have teased him for tripping over his own feet when they were walking to their rooms. "Why is your phone cover black? Don't you have that weird pink unicorn cover with glitter."

"You didn't bring your phone into the bathroom?" she hissed at Archie who shrugged, clearly he never expected Jughead to walk into her room this early in the morning. "Um ... Kevin got me that for my birthday, it's indestructible."

"You do need that," Jughead said and Archie nodded in front of her causing her to reach out and punch him as hard as she could and then making a face when her hand got hurt. "You have your face as your home screen Ron, even you aren't that narcissistic, oh dad messaged."

"I was really feeling that picture," Veronica said, her voice pitched high as she looked up wide eyed at Archie who just shook his head to tell her there was nothing to worry about.

"My message previews are off," Archie whispered shaking his head, these siblings had no boundaries, it was lucky that he checked his phone before he got into the bathroom and cleared Jughead's messages. Veronica let out a deep breath as she relaxed and then realized Jughead was asking more questions.

"Jug I'm getting shampoo in my mouth, is there something you need?" she asked, he was chatty this morning, normally she had no problem with him talking to her through her door while she got ready in the morning but this morning was a little bit of a problem in the form of a naked Archie Andrews.

"Just to tell you that I'm going to Harper's," he told her and Veronica involuntarily made a face. "Smither's is out, he might not be back before Betty get's here, leave him a note, I'll see you later."

"Love you," she calls back pressing her ear against the door until she hears it click shut before banging her head against the door at how close that was.

"Hey, stop that," Archie said, his voice still soft as if he expected Jughead to come back in and catch them. He reached out and took her upper arm turning her to face him and leaning down for a kiss. "Good morning."

Veronica closed her eyes and smiled but squeaked and ducked out of his way before his lips met hers and Archie turned to look at her completely confused. "I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

"Seriously?" he asked amused and she nodded covering her mouth with her hands, Archie sighed irritably but knew that there was no way that he was going to get to kiss her until she brushed her teeth. "Fine, I'm going to sneak into the guest room and get some clothes without being seen, and then I will lock your door before someone else decides to walk in and check up on you."

Veronica didn't think she had brushed her teeth, brushed her hair and made sure she smelled good so fast in her life before she burst through the doors and jumped onto Archie who dropped the clothes that he was carrying back into the room.

"I think I'll take that kiss now," she said wrapping her arms around his neck as his hands went to her butt, holding her in place. "I still can't believe this is happening, that you're here, that it's not a dream."

"Oh yeah, do you dream about me a lot?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows and she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks at his teasing. "What happens in those dreams?"

"Alot of this," she said kissing him. "Although you're usually naked this far into the dream," she said and Archie burst out laughing dropping them onto the bed and coming to hover above her.

"I'm pretty close right now," Archie told her and Veronica bit her lip, dragging her fingers down over his abs stopping at the towel wrapped around his waist.

"We should do something about that," she whispered, the humour in her voice slipping away as she tugged the towel off.

"You sure?" he asked knowing where she wanted them to go, his fingers already pushing up her nightdress and then pausing as he waited for her answer.

"Yes," she whispered watching his eyes darken in anticipation. "I'm sure about you Archie Andrews."

Her nightdress was gone before she had completed saying his name and Archie's lips were back on hers. Veronica's hands dipped down again, feeling the muscles under her fingers tense and she dragged them down to wrap her hands around his hard member. Archie groaned and reached down to grab her wrists, stilling them before he broke their kiss and shook his head at her.

"I'm not going to last at all if you don't stop," he warned pulling her hands up and trapping them above her head.

Veronica mewled at the lack of control that she had and pushed her hips up against him, Archie chuckled and used the hand not holding her wrists to hook his fingers into her underwear, feeling how wet she was for him.

"Ronnie," he whispered and she opened her eyes and raised her eyebrows in a silent question.

"Don't stop," she said wriggling one of her hands free so that she could help him get rid of the last barrier between them. "Archie."

Archie lined himself up with her entrance and Veronica rolled her hips forward, frustrated with how long he was taking. He slid into her and buried his face into the crook of her neck, sucking at the skin at her throat hard enough that she knew there was going to be a mark there but she didn't care.

"You're perfect," Archie whispered to her, pushing her legs further apart as he started to thrust. Veronica had never felt like this before, he was what she had been missing all along, he was her missing puzzle piece, they fit together so perfectly, in that moment she cared about nothing else but Archie.

Veronica pushed herself up so she could kiss him again, her teeth tugging at his bottom lip as she came, Archie followed close behind, spilling himself onto her stomach, both of them panting as they lay there in the aftermath.

Archie, grabbed the shirt that he had just brought from the other room and cleaned her up, tossing the shirt into the hamper and reaching up to push her hair back. "I need to shower again."

"Me too," she said squealing as he pulled her up and carried her bridal style back into the bathroom.

* * *

Archie and Veronica finally emerged from her room, dressed for the day, holding hands and whispering to each other. Someone clearing their throat ahead of them caused Veronica to drop Archie's hand and jump away from him.

"Smithers," she exclaimed bringing her hands up to her chest looking up the butler who looked as shocked to see them as they were to see him, holding the paper bags of groceries that he had just brought back from the stores, but he didn't look at her, his eyes were fixed on Archie. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Mr Archie, I wasn't expecting you here today," Smithers said, tilting his head up and giving nothing away, Archie nodded but didn't move as he waited for the older man to continue. "Mr Jughead's room is down the hall if you were looking for him but I think he's already left the building."

"I thought he said that I should meet him here but I think we got our stories mixed up," Archie said giving Smithers his most convincing smile and Veronica looked at him sideways wondering if he knew that Smithers was seeing right through him. "I'm sure you won't tell him about this embarrassing moment."

"Hmm," Smithers grunted and then nodded his head once. "Of course not, Mr Archie."

"Is there anything else Smithers?" Veronica asked, wanting this to be over as quickly as possible, so she could go back to being excited about everything that has been happening with her and Archie and not being worried about Smither's ratting her out to her brother.

"Yes Miss Veronica," he said finally turning to look at her and Veronica tried to give him her most innocent look which she could see Archie snort at as quietly as he could, it reminded her of when they were younger and their parents would leave Smithers in charge of them and how the boys would always send her to lie about the things they were getting up to because Smithers couldn't reprimand her but they would never let her forget how ridiculous her innocent face and lies were. "The service quarters, I think we should start locking those doors again."

"Oh?" Veronica asked raising her eyebrows, her eyes darted quickly to Archie who's expression gave away nothing. "Any particular reason?"

"Those doors have direct access to the house," he said matter-of-factly and Veronica nodded, making a face like she didn't already know that. "Andre and I wouldn't want anyone just wandering in off the street Miss Veronica, it's not safe."

"Of course," Veronica said seriously and then decided that she needed this conversation to be over so they could both pretend like they were oblivious because if she stood there any longer she would laugh at how hard they were trying to ignore Archie sleeping in her room the night before. "Thank you Smithers, we will be off now."

"One more thing," he said as the teenagers started to walk toward the exit. "Mr Andrews, do try to use the front door next time."

"Will do Smithers," Archie said tapping an imaginary hat to Smither's before grabbing Veronica's hand and running them out of the apartment. It was only when the elevator doors shut that they burst out laughing. "Do you think he'll tell Jughead?"

"Smither's might be concerned but he's not a snitch," she said tilting her head up so he could kiss her again, she didn't want to stop touching and kissing him, she wanted to be all over him all the time and it didn't look like he was complaining.

"Hmmm he might rethink that if he came home earlier, you are not very quiet," he said and Veronica gasped and playfully hit his chest.

"I resent that Archie Andrews," she said with a dramatic roll of her eyes and he pulled her closer to kiss her soundly.

"I'll make it up to you," he promised and she smiled bumping their noses together.

"I know you will," she said. "I wish you could cancel your plans today."

"Me too but Jughead will be suspicious if you hang out with Betty and your Instagram story isn't full of selfies to keep us entertained for hours," he teased and she stuck her tongue out at him, she and Betty were cute and they knew it, so did their followers. "And my dad was probably texting to let me know he was waiting."

"Oh give me your phone, which picture you used for your screen saver," she demanded digging her hand into his pocket before he thought about what she was doing and grabbing his phone, the picture was of her with one pompom hand on her hip and the other up to the sky, screaming out a cheer, she looked like she had just stepped out of a cheerleading movie, she looked good. "Archie, this is from yesterday, how did you even get it?"

"Kevin sent it to me," Archie chuckled, helping her into the truck before getting into the driver's side. "I should probably change it, if my phone is lying around, anyone could see it, like Jug did earlier."

"You're so lucky that my phone was under my pillow," Veronica laughed and Archie shook his head, they were luckier that Archie and Veronica both had the same type of phone. "Why is Ginger messaging you?"

"I don't know," Archie said coming to a stop at the stop sign before reaching over and unlocking the phone for her to check. "What does it say?"

"She said Jug and Harper are spending all their time together so you should go keep her company," Veronica said locking the phone with a full body shiver. "Ew."

"Well it's not like I'm going to reply to her," Archie said amused, when he glanced over at Veronica's disgusted expression.

"You better not," she mumbled, feeling her mood turn.

"What if I tell Jughead that I met someone and I fell hopelessly in love," Archie said as they reached his road. "He will complain to Harper that I'm not spending enough time with him and Ginger will back off, it will also give me an alibi so we could be together without all the sneaking around."

"I don't like lying to him more that I need to," Veronica said biting her lip nervously when he finally came to a stop outside his house and turned to her. "And won't my brother want to meet this mystery girl?"

"Let me figure out the details," Archie told her. "This will get Ginger off my case and it will give me an idea about when we can tell Jughead, I'll figure out the rest of the details."

"If you say so," Veronica said with a shrug and then started to smile, to which Archie just looked nervous at. "You're hopelessly in love with me?"

"If that wasn't completely obvious before," he told her reaching out to take her hand. "Yes I am."

"I love you too," she whispered leaning in to press her lips to his in a feather light kiss, her heart was pounding in her chest, was everything going too fast? "I should go before your dad starts wondering what you're doing just parked out here."

"They just got back from Greendale, he won't mind me being a little late," Archie laughed but jumped out of the van so he could run over to open her door for her and help her out. "I'll see you later?"

"Can't wait," she said, walking to Betty's house and adding an extra swing to her step because she knew that he was watching. When she turned back he saw him leaning against the truck and chuckling to himself because he knew exactly what she was doing, Veronica blew him a kiss before turning back to the door just in time for Mrs Cooper swing it open.

"Veronica, we weren't expecting you today," she said with the permanent fake smile she always had on her face. "Betty is still asleep."

"Oh no Mrs C, she's awake, she's expecting me," Veronica said knowing that if they were any closer to exam season she would not have been let into the house, she didn't wait for a reply, just sprinted up the stairs and jumped on top of Betty who was reading.

"Oh my God, V," Betty exclaimed laughing at the excited brunette on top of her. "What are you doing here? I thought you would be with Archie the whole day."

"I know but he had plans with Mr Andrews and I told Jughead I would be here and I don't want to lie to my brother about everything," she said and Betty laughed, of course, hiding a relationship was no problem but lying about meeting a friend and then not going was completely wrong.

"What is going on with you, you look like you're going to jump out of your own skin?" Betty asked sitting up and raising an eyebrow at Veronica who looked like she was going to burst on the spot.

"I had sex with Archie Andrews," she squeaked out, checking the door to make sure no-one could have heard her.

"You what?" Betty exclaimed gasping and jumping off the bed to grab onto Veronica's shoulders making her turn to look at her. "Tell me everything."

"I will but can we go to Pop's," Veronica asked sneaking a look at the hallway again. "I'm starving and I don't want your mother to walk in while we're talking."

* * *

**A/N : Is everything going to fast? Hi guys I'm back with my monthly update of this story, this chapter was one of the hardest to write, mostly because I changed what happened in it a few times, it's been a journey. I was supposed to break it up into 2 chapters but it turned out to work better as just one chapter**

**The smut was kinda tossed in very last minute and I am posting it now before I go back and reread it and delete it all lol writing smut is still not my strong point and I don't think I'll ever get comfortable writing it but I hope you guys enjoyed it **

**Theres still a long way to go before this story ends and it has grown so much, we're already 9 chapters in, I can't believe it, I still haven't written much further on in this story but my deadline at work is monday so hopefully things will calm down then**

**I havent been watching Riverdale but I saw the spoilers for 4x13 and OMG I wanna skip everything and just watch that episode for all the Varchie goodness, anyway, happy Valentines day from me, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know your thoughts I will try and be good and actually reply to your comments this time**

**Until next time(^^,)**


	10. Chapter 10

Veronica walked out of her room and raised an eyebrow at her brother sitting at the dining room table, all his books open and spread out in front of him, it had been a long time since she saw him doing any school work. Jughead had his final football game at Riverdale high that Friday, so the last thing Veronica expected was him off the field and in their dining room.

"Hey, how's the studying going?" she asked peering over his shoulder and he shot her a look of annoyance.

"It's going like I should have started 2 months ago," Jughead gritted out letting his forehead drop to the open textbook in front of him, repeatedly. "We have our final game of High School to win, I need to be on the field, preparing the guys and training, I don't even need to take these stupid tests."

"Yes you do," Veronica reminded him laughing at his frustration and hugging him from behind as he hung his head, sometimes it was nice to see her perfect brother feeling like a failure too. "What's for lunch? I'm starving."

"You can order something, Smithers is off today remember," he told her and Veronica groaned as she remembered. "Or you could cook us something."

"I burn water," she deadpanned and Jughead gave her an unimpressed look. "Fine, fine, I'll see what we have, but if we still have to order something just know that it's your fault we have to wait for delivery."

Jughead was still chuckling at her when she entered the kitchen and started digging in the cupboards, she supposed she could make pasta, which was probably the only thing she could make without burning the house down or Smithers help. She was in the process of getting all the ingredients out when she felt hands on her hips and turned sharply to find Archie grinning down at her.

"What are you doing here? Besides scaring me?" she hissed, slapping his arm before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss, wary of the door where her brother could walk in at any minute.

"Study session," Archie told her between kisses, hoisting her up onto a counter so he wouldn't need to bend down so much and Veronica giggled. "I feel like I haven't gotten to touch you in weeks."

"I know, I've missed you," she said tugging at the ends of his shirt as he kissed down her neck. "I thought Jughead was never going to let you leave the field."

"That was his plan but coach forced us to take the weekend off and actually get some studying done, we're back at it on Monday," Archie told her and Veronica frowned, the Bulldogs were training non-stop for their final game, which meant late nights and early mornings on the field or working out, which made Archie's body so much leaner than Veronica would have thought possible but she wouldn't get to find out just how much because he was always either training or sleeping, Archie wasn't exaggerating when he said he hadn't touched her in weeks.

"Arch, can you grab a bottle of water for me too," Jughead yelled and Veronica brought a hand to her chest, she almost forgot he was just in the other room. "And hurry up, we're burning daylight."

"I'll be out now, I'm helping Ronnie reach the top shelves," Archie said and they could hear Jughead snicker at that, Veronica was so short. "Don't pout," Archie whispered to her and kissed her pouted lips.

"I do actually need your help, can you get me one of the pots in that cupboard," she said with a sweet smile, pointing to the cupboard above the stove and Archie just chuckled and nodded, turning to get it for her. Veronica used this time to admire him, tilting her head and biting her lip as she watched his t-shirt riding up as he reached up, exposing the skin of his tanned abdomen to her.

"How's the view?" he asked when he caught her and she sighed dreamily.

"Exquisite," she whispered pulling him in for another kiss, making up for all the kisses they didn't have while Archie was busy.

"Veronica there is a ladder that you can use," Jughead's irritated voice said sounding alot closer than it should and Veronica and Archie broke apart from each other just in time for Jughead to burst through the swinging door and head straight for the bottles of water that Archie had taken out of the fridge for them. He paused and frowned at the sight of his sister sitting on the centre island and his best friend standing with a pot in hand next to packets of ingredients. "You're not supposed to make the guest cook."

"But he's so much better at it than I am," Veronica told her brother, giving him a sheepish smile to which he just raised his eyebrow. "Fine I'll stop bothering the 'guest', go study, both of you out, I'll call you if I need you."

Jughead rolled his eyes, grabbed the water and looked to his friend as if to say, hurry up and left. Archie put down the pot he was holding and reached out to hold Veronica and help her off the counter, any excuse to touch her. "Don't burn the house down," he joked stealing one last lingering kiss before following Jughead out to the dining room.

Veronica sighed and went to the fridge to grab the cheese she was going to need when she heard her brother speak.

"We've never actually had to talk about this before but my sister is off limits," he said and Veronica bit down on her lip and moved closer to the door as she felt her heart start to race.

"What?" Archie asked with a nervous laugh like he thought Jughead was joking and Veronica cringed.

"I love you man, you are one of the best guys I know but... my sister is not another girl for you to add to your black book," Jughead said, Veronica could tell that he wasn't accusing Archie of anything yet but the threat in his voice was there. She wanted nothing more than to storm into the room and scream at the misogyny of her brother but she couldn't let them know that she was listening.

"I don't have a black book," Archie said and Veronica could hear the defensiveness in his voice, she wondered if they ever fought and she swallowed hard at the thought of them fighting because of her. "Even if I did, even if something was happening with her, you know that Veronica would _never_ be just another entry."

"Maybe not intentionally, I notice things you know," Jughead said and Veronica held her breath, knowing Archie probably was as well as they waited for Jughead to continue. "You and the kid are alot closer now, you spend more time around each other, alone, maybe even too much, she's had a crush on you for a long time, I don't want you giving her the wrong impression."

"What impression would that be exactly," Archie asked rhetorically and Veronica could hear him grinding his teeth.

"The impression that you might like her as more than a friend, I do not want her thinking that there is something going on between you two and then get her heart broken when she realizes that you're just leading her on," Veronica flinched at her brothers words and waited for a sign that she needed to walk in and diffuse the situation. "You know what I mean Archie, you don't do it intentionally but I've been there when the girls that you flirt with incessantly, get their hopes up and then get let down when you find a Val or, what was that other girl you dated when we first got to high school ... Carlie something."

"And that's not going to be Veronica," Archie explained sounding completely exasperated. "V and I have always been close, you and Toni always left us alone when you were off doing whatever you were doing, you're just noticing now because T isn't here to distract you."

"Whatever feelings you think you might have for her, squash them," Jughead snapped, mentioning Toni was the best way to flare up her brothers anger and Veronica bit her lip hard, wondering if she could walk in and put an end to this conversation somehow, when her brother started talking again. "We're out of here next year, half way across the country, I don't want you to do to her what Toni did to me, I don't want her to be left behind like I was."

"Jug, Toni and I are very different people," Archie said calmly.

"I don't care, I'm not willing to test that theory on Veronica," Jughead countered, it was a long moment before Archie's voice came filtering through the door to Veronica.

"Okay, consider it squashed," he told Jughead sounding defeated, like he wanted to spill the beans but he didn't think that he would come out of that fight without losing something.

"We have the game on Friday and finals in like 3 weeks, I don't need to worry about you and my sister as well," Jughead said and Veronica could picture Archie just nodding at Jughead's words waiting for this outburst to pass. "I mean she's practically your sister too, you've known her since she was born."

"Jug," Archie warned and Veronica itched to open the door and look at their faces because she was fairly certain that Archie had just given them away.

"Look," Jughead said with a long sigh. "She's my baby sister, I'm going to protect her for as long as I can."

"I know Jug," Archie assured him and Veronica felt her throat close up at the emotion in her brothers voice. "I promised you I would do the same, remember?"

Veronica rolled her eyes at that, why did either of them think she needed protecting, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself as proven by her most recent encounter with Nick St Clair.

"I remember, I just ... I had to get that out," Jughead replied with a forced chuckle, relieved that this conversation was now out of the way. "Now how the hell did you get 2x + c."

Veronica pushed herself away from the door and to the other side of the kitchen, sagging against the counter as her heart rate slowed. Jughead wasn't stupid, he picked up on how much more flirty everything was with Archie in the past few weeks but to get his outright disapproval like that was hard to hear. Sighing, she started to measure out her ingredients, she needed to talk to someone removed from the situation who could give her advice because right now all she see's is disaster.

* * *

"I don't know babygirl, your brother is as hardheaded as they come," Toni said on the phone later that night when Veronica called her to ask her for advice and fill her in on everything that had happened since her 16th birthday.

"You did say that I should call you to sort him out if he has a problem," Veronica reminded her friend, Toni also said that Jughead would get over it after the initial shock but Veronica did not believe that anymore. "And well, he has a problem."

"I also didn't think you or Arch would man up and become an actual couple," Toni mumbled and Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Toni," she whined. "You're supposed to be giving me solutions."

"I know, I know," Toni soothed. "And I would love to able to tell you that I can fly down there and make your brother see reason, but you know how volatile our relationship is right now, I'll probably hurt your cause more than help it."

"You're right, I could blame you for this," Veronica snapped and then sighed, she couldn't blame Toni for her brothers over-protectiveness, she was probably the only reason Jughead was so distracted and only suspected what Veronica and Archie were. "I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated ... I want to be able to hold my boyfriends hand in public and glare at those stupid girls that throw themselves at him, I want to stop lying to my brother."

"Archie is probably feeling exactly the same," Toni said and Veronica sighed, she knew that, she and Archie had a small disagreement before he left about telling Jughead, she wanted to tell him and face the consequences of her brother hating them for a while but Archie refused. "You could always wait until the holidays, Jughead won't be stressed about all the things that are currently making him so high strung and ..."

"That's a whole month from now," Veronica complained but considered Toni's words, their final game and their final exams, his nerves were strung up so tight that if she dropped this on him no-one could predict how he would react. "I hate it when you're right."

"He'll probably be a prissy bitch for the summer but by the time he and Archie move into their college dorm room he'll be fine," Toni said fondly and Veronica could hear how much she missed Jughead and Archie.

"Archie has applied to colleges closer to home," Veronica said a little hesitantly, waiting for Toni to tell her that it's a perfect idea, that it's not a mistake to reorganize these future plans to lessen the strain on a new but very important relationship. "T?"

"Has he said anything to Jughead yet?" Toni asked and Veronica's heart started to race at the tone of Toni's voice and the worry that sentence held.

"No," Veronica whispered squeezing her eyes shut as the tears started to prickle behind them, she thought she was going to cry, she wanted Archie closer to her, of course she did but at what cost, he wanted to be where Jughead was, she knew that, when they spoke about him settling on a college closer to home, she saw his hesitation but she ignored it because she was so excited that they would be together, that he was thinking about them long term, that he was considering it.

"V, I know that you and Archie are in this honeymoon phase right now and I don't want to take you out of that, but Jughead and Archie have had this dream since we were kids, as much as Archie wants to be closer to you, he won't let Jughead down like that, just like Jughead refused to," Toni said as gently as she could and Veronica knew she was right. "I know you and I know Archie and if both of you are serious about this that you will survive the long distance, you've done worse commutes, remember when your parents were in Washington and made the two of you fly there every weekend for 3 months?"

"But what if this ends up like you and Jug," Veronica asked, taking a shaky breath to calm herself, she remembered those commutes and she hated them, she would do it for Archie but she really didn't want to spend that much of her last years in High School travelling. "You guys fought so much about this, you knew that long distance would be the end for you but you also knew that you would end up hating each other more if you tried to compromise and now look where you are."

"We don't hate each other," Toni reminded Veronica, she and Jughead were currently not talking but Toni had hopes that it would change and they could in time become friends again. "You heard all that? I thought you had no idea what was happening when we fought."

"Of course I heard it, you guys weren't exactly quiet," Veronica reminded Toni, no matter how much Jughead and Toni tried to shield Veronica from the more heated moments of their relationship Veronica knew, she was there, in the same house all those arguments happened in, she just chose to turn a blind eye to the problems and hope that it just resolved itself, she's surprised they didn't break up as soon as Toni chose her college. "I don't want Archie to resent me, or Juggy for that matter."

"Have you told this to Archie?" Toni asked and Veronica sighed.

"I haven't had the guts to bring it up again," Veronica said with a laugh. "I just really love him T, and I want this to work."

"And it will, Archie is smitten by you, I could tell on your birthday," Toni said and Veronica smiled to herself.

"Everything just feels like it's heading for a brick wall, I don't want distance to break us," Veronica said flopping down onto her bed and taking a deep breath, blowing out the air slowly. "Either way you and Jug would have had the distance, it was either this year or the rest of the years you were in college."

"You and Archie are not Jughead and I," Toni said and Veronica's breath caught as she thought about Archie telling Jughead earlier that he was not Toni. "Do not base any of your decisions on how Jug and I ended."

"I won't," Veronica said. "I promise."

"Good, talk to Archie," Toni said. "He might look like your typical all American idiot quarterback but he has a heart of gold and some really good advice, he helped me alot last year when things were going down with Jughead, you guys will figure this out."

"Or ... you could just fly down to Riverdale and be here as protection when I tell my brother and then just not leave because as soon as you do he will kill me and Archie," Veronica said in a rush.

"Veronica," Toni said exasperatedly but then realized it was a joke, already laughing with Veronica. "I miss you too kid, so much more than you know."

"Me too," Veronica said.

"I need to go now, but keep me updated ok?" Toni asked as someone called her name in the background. "Love you."

"Bye," Veronica whispered after Toni had already hung up, she sat on her bed listening to the dial tone for a while after Toni had cut the call just thinking about everything that had happened that day. Toni was probably right, she and Archie had been a secret for so long, waiting a few more weeks until tensions weren't so high to tell her brother wouldn't kill them, they would just need to use this time to iron out their own problems and thoughts about the future.

Everything was going to be fine, it had to be.

* * *

"You have been weirdly M.I.A recently, Elizabeth Cooper," Veronica said, squinting her eyes at her favourite blond as she swirled her straw around in her milkshake, chocolate of course. Veronica was avoiding a conversation with Archie and she needed to talk to someone, but she chickened out on telling Betty exactly why she was summoned to Pop's that afternoon.

"Me?" Betty asked surprised at the accusation but there was a slight blush to her cheeks that told Veronica that there was more to this story than she was letting on. "I've been M.I.A because I've been covering for you, if there's a reason you haven't seen me its because you've been too busy being the quarterbacks secret girlfriend."

"Betty Cooper, we have been friends for far too long, I know all your tells," Veronica said, she was just teasing at first but by the way Betty was squirming in her seat she knew that there was something Betty was hiding from her.

"No, I-" Betty started but then looked at Veronica's face and deflated, she could not keep any secrets from Veronica no matter how hard she tried.

"Well? Veronica prompted, taking a sip of her milkshake and looking at her friend pointedly. Betty pressed her lips together and looked around to see if anyone was listening before leaning in closer, by this point Veronica was practically vibrating in her seat, Betty cooper had a huge secret if she was this nervous to tell her. "Spill it already!"

"Ok," Betty said with a giggle holding her hands up to tell Veronica to calm down. "Every time I've covered for you lately, I've been with Reggie."

"Ah huh," Veronica said waiting for more but then her eyes went wide as she realized what Betty was telling her. "Reggie Mantle? Like yey high, dark hair, sharpest jawline we have ever seen, Reggie?"

"That sounds like him," Betty said biting her lip as she leaned back and watched Veronica's face trying to gauge how she was going to react, she knew Veronica didn't like Reggie like that but Betty wasn't sure what feelings could be brought up by news like this. "V, you need to say something before I start thinking the worst."

"I cannot believe the idiot acted on his feelings," Veronica said clapping her hands together and grinning, her eyes sparkling at the news even as Betty's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"His feelings?" Betty asked, sounding both confused and annoyed that Veronica hadn't shared this information with her. "You knew that he had feelings for me?"

"No, not exactly, Kevin and I guessed at his feelings but we never confronted him and we could never tell if you liked him or not and of course we didn't want to meddle," Veronica said quickly and Betty fixed her with a look that told her she did not believe a word coming out of the raven haired girl's mouth. "I promise B, Kev and I would have played cupid if we thought you felt the same but we wouldn't jeopardize our friend group, OMG Kevin is going to freak out when he finds out."

"He already knows," Betty said slowly, with a slight cringe, knowing how much her best friend hated being the last to know anything.

"He what?!" Veronica asked, loud enough that the people in the booth a few rows down turned to see what the commotion was. "I'm the last to know?"

"Well you've been busy with Archie and I don't blame you," Betty said softly, smiling at the people who turned as an apology for her very loud and excitable best friend. "The boys have been keeping me company on those days and it went from both of them together to just Reggie after a couple of visits, and then he kissed me and we haven't stopped."

"Kevin you sly dog," Veronica said with a smile and Betty rolled her eyes. "Wait, so are you dating?"

"No, not exactly," Betty told her stabbing at the strawberry at the bottom of her milkshake glass. "We've just kissed a couple of times so far, no need to define it yet."

"Betty Cooper, you do not 'just kiss' with anyone, you've always been an all or nothing girl," Veronica said with a laugh.

"I know but this is Reggie and he's never been a one woman guy so I don't even know how to broach that topic," Betty told her and Veronica shook her head. "But enough about me, we are here to talk about you, why are we having this friend date?"

"I'm too excited about this to even think about that right now," Veronica said shaking her head and laughing. "We are coming up with a plan of action to open Reginald's eyes, you are no-one's second place."

* * *

**A/N : It has been a hot minute since I've updated, I promise I have not given up on this story, I have hit writers block, i haven't been able to write anything recently and with everything happening in the world, its been an anxious time, here in South Africa we are in a national lockdown but since I can work from home, I am and it's been busier than a normal work day, its ridiculous**

**I still have a plan for this story, since there is nothing at all to do for the next 2 weeks, I am hoping that I can get my shit together and actually write the next few chapters**

**I hope you guys are staying safe and being careful with your health **

**Also if you guys are looking for something Varchie to read, there's a story on Wattpad called 'The fill-in boyfriend' by honestlyvarchie , its adorable, I need to catch up on reading other Varchie stories, I've seen so many updates and I'm so excited to read all the stories**

**Let me know what you guys think about this chapter**

**Until Next Time (^^,)**


	11. Chapter 11

"You know, it was only a couple of games ago when I stood here watching you try to deny that Archie Andrews was flirting with you and look where we are now," Kevin said with a smirk throwing his arms up as the players ran past them for the second half of their final game of the season and Archie and Jughead's final high school game.

Jughead had been a ball of nervous energy that entire week, he spoke of nothing but football and every time Veronica saw him he was telling her all about his plays and things that they had changed since they played the Sunnydale Razorbacks which was how they were going to win.

"Shhhh," Veronica hushed with a laugh looking around and Kevin shook his head, he didn't say anything incriminating and no-one was listening to them. "That feels like it was so long ago."

"So, how goes things in Varchie land?" Kevin asked bumping Veroinca's hip. Veronica tried to keep her relationship with Archie as private as possible, even with her friends, when they first started their secrets trysts Veronica barely spent time with her friends and when she did all she could talk about was Archie until she noticed them shut down when she started talking and she realized that she had no idea what was going on in her friends lives but they could probably give her a run-down of every second of her and Archie's time together and she decided that she needed to stop.

"Varchie?" Veronica laughed stepping back to be in line with the other girls as Cheryl instructed.

"It's what I'm calling my favourite couple," Kevin said coming up behind her as she rubbed her pom-poms together. "Like Zigi and Jophie, or the classic Brangelina."

"Your favourite couple? Shouldn't it be Reggie and Betty, seeing as you practically got them together like the matchmaker you are," Veronica smirked, Betty and Reggie were slowly but surely becoming the couple to watch and Veronica was living for it, she had never seen Reggie in a relationship and she had seen Betty into too many guys that she hated so she loved that this was a relationship that she could root for. "Good work there, by the way, I couldn't have planned it better if I tried."

"Well thank you, I am a bit of a match maker aren't I," Kevin said fluttering his eyelashes and Veronica giggled. It was an effort for her to keep her eyes on Cheryl and concentrate on doing their routine correctly when Archie was on the field and all she wanted to do was watch him. "You still didn't answer my question."

"We're ... good," Veronica said, realizing too late that she had hesitated on the word good for too long and Kevin was too observant not to pick up on that. "I mean we're brilliant."

"Uh oh, no heart eyes," Kevin said pulling her to stand away from the cheerleaders, their routine was over for the moment, the players and cheerleaders were taking a short timeout and he didn't want any eavesdroppers, Veronica just looked up at him confused and waited for him to elaborate. "You know what I mean, usually he's glancing back after every move to see if you were watching and you just stare at him with that dumb glazed look on your face."

"I don't have a dumb glazed look," Veronica defended standing up taller and Kevin just gave her a look as if to say that she was fooling no-one. "Can everyone tell that I'm completely in love?"

"Of course, but everyone is in love with him so your heart eyes aren't that special," Kevin said matter-of-factly, laughing at the blush on Veronica's cheeks. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"Jughead," Veronica finally said with a sigh. She hadn't told any of her friends what she had overheard yet, she tried to tell Betty multiple times but if she were being honest she was avoiding her own thoughts about it. "I overheard him tell Archie to stay away from me and he sounded really upset at the thought of us being together."

"Jughead just needs to get over the fact that he cannot control your life, or Archies, one day the two of you will get married and have the prettiest babies and Jughead will just have to deal with it and hand over all godfather privileges to me," Kevin joked and then noticed how worried Veronica looked. "Do you really think that Jughead will react that badly? Maybe he was just stressed?"

"He was so serious Kev, you should have heard him," Veronica said turning back to the field to search for her brother, no matter what had happened that week and whatever stress he was under he looked so carefree and happy right now, he was in his element and Veronica smiled, she loved seeing her brother like this. Then her eyes drifted as it always did, to Archie, he was already watching her so she blew him a kiss quickly, knowing that her brother wasn't watching and Archie smiled back at her before pulling his helmet back over his head. "I never thought falling in love would be this complicated."

"Have you spoken to Toni?" Kevin asked, of all the people in their lives, he knew that Toni would be the best person to talk to, she would know what to say. "She could tell you what to do to get Jughead to back off."

"I have," Veronica said with a sigh, Toni's advice was what Veronica expected but she still wished that Toni could have solved all her problems. "Her advice is to wait until Jughead is across the country in his dorm room before telling him, it would be harder for him to get to us."

"That sounds ... promising," Kevin said, not looking as convinced as he wanted to and Veronica shook her head at him, amused. "Wait no, wouldn't the whole point of this be so he wouldn't kill Archie and yet you're waiting until he's alone with Archie and there was no witnesses."

"Only if he and Archie are going to the same college," Veronica said and Kevin gasped as the realization dawned on him.

"Archie wants to go to a college closer to Riverdale for you?" he asked, looking out dreamily to search for the red-headed Adonis. "That's so sweet and serious, I didn't realize you were at life-changing decisions level of serious yet."

"Hey love birds, gossip later," Cheryl screamed before Veronica could reply and both Veronica and Kevin cringed and sprinted to the rest of the cheerleaders. "I don't have time to run after all of you, this is my final game, and I refuse to be out-cheered by Prudence Blackwood and her Ravenette's, what kind of unoriginal name is that anyway?"

"Ready to show some team spirit Vixens?" Polly called out stopping Cheryl before she started to rant. The squad cheered, getting into position as Cheryl instructed, glaring at anyone who stepped out of place. The Vixens had somehow managed to place second at the annual cheer competition while the Ravenette's placed first and Cheryl was out to prove that the judges were biased and her team was the best that there was, which meant out-cheering anyone else, of course that didn't stop Prudence from rubbing their win in Cheryl's face.

By the time the game was over, Veronica could feel her muscles screaming at her. She was probably going to be in pain until the school year was over.

"It's like she's trying to kill us," Kevin whispered when they were done, the crowd was screaming around them but as soon as they saw Jughead score his final touch down they didn't even wait for the whistle to blow, they just sat down, back to back and took a moment to breath. "That's going to be her parting gift to us, unintentional death."

"Oh I think it will be very intentional," Veronica complained, smiling proudly as the Riverdale High Bulldogs were announced as the champions and a massive Trophy was handed over to her brother and Archie amidst the cheers of their adoring fans. Cheryl was screaming at Chuck, who was there with some of the other players, spraying champagne on the senior cheerleaders not letting them be left out of the fun, Veronica laughed as Chuck drank whatever was left in the bottle and then picked Cheryl up to take her to the middle of the field, Cheryl tried to look horrified but was laughing despite herself. Polly and Jason were sharing a kiss, oblivious to Moose and Trevor sneaking up behind them with a bucket of water, even Everlyn Evernever, who was notoriously known for never having fun, was helping the boys get as many people as she could soaked with champagne. In that moment it didn't even matter how tired or sore she felt, she wanted to be a part of the celebrations, she looked up to see the rest of the cheerleaders shared her sentiment as they were getting up and sprinting out onto the field, the crowd got ready to do the same. "I also think that if we don't get up right now we will be trampled to death."

"Come on," Kevin said standing and reaching down to grab her arms and hoist her up. "We should get onto the field and find your man before anyone else does."

"I'm pretty sure Ginger already has her slimey claws on him," Veronica complained stopping and turning around when she heard her name to find Betty sprinting toward them.

"It doesn't matter," Kevin told her, wiggling his eyebrows. "Her name might be Ginger but you're the one who's riding the ginger stallion tonight."

"Kevin," Betty laughed as she reached them, panting a little from her run. "That was the worst attempt at a joke I have ever heard."

"Come on, it was genius," Kevin said defending himself.

"You guys were on fire tonight," Betty said grinning at them. "I can't believe it's over."

"Oh no, we're not going down this road tonight," Veronica said shaking her head. "No talk about the end of the year and final games and anything being over."

"Jughead," Betty called waving at him, Veronica and Kevin smiled over her head, her little crush on him was still there, even with Reggie as her new beau. "Shut up," she whispered to them, not missing the look they shared.

"I am a champion," Jughead said holding his arms out and beaming at them. "I am like a football king, everyone will bow down to me."

"How are we related?" Veronica asked shaking her head. "Where's the trophy?"

"Archibald," Jughead yelled out, Kevin squeaked unintentionally and Veronica widened her eyes as she looked at him to tell him to try and be a little less obvious when Jughead was around. "Bring me the treasure."

"He's never going to hear you," Veronica laughed, bumping Reggie's fist when he made his way to them, wrapping his arms around Kevin and Betty's shoulders. "Where is he anyway?"

"Ginger found him, she's probably convincing him to go back to her place after this," Jughead snorted, Veronica made a face and stretched her neck up to see if she could spot her redhead. "Or not."

"I was right behind you," Archie said rolling his eyes and Veronica turned to find him next to her and grinned, she just wanted to kiss him. "Had to grab this from Jason."

"Careful with that, it's precious cargo," Jughead said catching the trophy when Archie tossed it to him. "Now this is what I've worked my whole life for, Reggie next year I expect you to keep up our tradition and keep it here in Riverdale."

"Yes sir," Reggie said reaching out to touch it when Jughead held it out.

"Congratulations," Veronica said turning her attention to Archie once her brother and her three best friends were fully engrossed in their conversation. "I'm so proud of you guys."

"It was a close one, I didn't think we were going to win until the end," Archie said hugging her tightly. "You'll be at the after party right?"

"Of course," Veronica said letting go of him when he loosened his grip and pulled away reluctantly. "Unless you have other plans."

"Not exactly, once we're there, I'll come find you," he told her, she narrowed her eyes at him and he grinned and risked tapping her nose before letting go of her completely and turned to the rest of the group, Jughead eyed them suspiciously but then shook his head and smiled, drawing his sister away from Archie and closer to him.

"Well V, what do you think of our new mantel piece," he asked with a grin at Veronica's unimpressed face. "Don't worry you'll get used to it."

* * *

"Ready to go," Archie's voice whispers in her ear, she standing with her friends in a corner of the dark room, the music was blaring through the speakers around them and the furniture was moved around for a make-shift dance floor that was packed with what seemed like the entire Riverdale High student body.

"Don't worry," Kevin tells her, taking the cup she was holding and handing her the jacket that was on the table behind him. "We've got you covered."

"See you guys later," Veronica says smiling at them, feeling oddly nervous and excited about leaving the party with Archie.

"Have fun," Betty says, tucked against Reggie's side, Reggie gave her a thumbs up and Veronica waved, reaching out to take Archie's hand as he led them out of the party to his truck, parked a little bit out of the way, for an easy escape.

"Aren't you worried that someone might see us," Veronica asked, glancing around for signs of her brother or anyone who noticed them.

"Everyone is either too drunk to notice these details, they'll see Jason's hair and think it's mine, you would be surprised at the amount of times that has happened," Archie said opening the passenger side door for her and holding a hand out to help her into her seat. "And Jughead and Harper disappeared into one of the guest rooms, he won't be looking for us anytime soon."

"I did not need to know that," Veronica said making a disgusted face and Archie chuckled, closing the door and walking over to his side and starting up the truck. "Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see," he said with a grin at her before pulling out of the driveway. "Now that this season is over, we'll get to spend more time together, the last few weeks have been ... alot."

"Don't you have your final exams to worry about," Veronica asked, glancing up at him before going back to her scrolling through her phone to find the next song for them to listen to.

"No-one is really expecting me to do exceptionally," Archie said with a shrug. "I just need to show up and pass, the rest is sorted but no more school talk, tonight is for you and me, tomorrow we can talk about all that."

"You know, that's kinda hard to do because all we know is school," she said and Archie pursed his lips and glanced at her with narrowed eyes, making her giggle. "I know what you meant, no more future talk."

"We're here," Archie said slowing down and switching the vehicle off. Veronica had been staring at him for most of the drive that she didn't even notice where they were going. "Come on."

"What did you do?" she asked, placing her hands on his shoulders as he took her by the waist to carry her down. She looked at the scene in front of them, a blanket was on the ground with a couple of pillows scattered on top and candles lit around the blanket, giving the area a soft glow. "How?"

"Dilton owed me a favour, he asks no questions, just does what I ask," Archie said with a smile, wrapping his arms around her from the back and pressing a kiss to her neck. The butterflies in Veronica's belly were fluttering all over, she was impressed, she always thought Archie would be a romantic, she just never thought she would get to experience being romanced by him.

"Come here," Veronica said, turning in his arms and tugging him closer by the lapels of his jacket, kissing him deeply. "This is amazing."

"I thought, since I didn't get to dance with you at prom," he said walking her backward toward the set up and letting go of her for a moment to touch the iPod station that she completely missed at first glance, soft music began to play in the back ground and Archie stood up and bowed to her almost like he did on her birthday, holding a hand out. "Can I have this dance?"

"I would love that, Archie," she whispered emotions swirling in her belly and she could feel her eyes getting watery. She shook her emotions off and took his hand, her other hand went up to his shoulder and she bit her lip and beamed up at him as he swayed them to the beat of the music. "I can't believe that you set all this up, for me."

"I think we needed it," Archie said taking a step back and holding his arm up to twirl her, immediately stepping back in so he could grasp her around her waist again. "I wanted to do something that didn't feel like sneaking around, I wanted to just dance with you and not have to be quiet because Jughead would actually kill me if he saw this."

"No more Jughead talk, my brother is just being an overprotective idiot," Veronica said, wrapping both arms around his neck and pulling him in for a long kiss. "How does it feel to be a champion?"

Veronica and Archie spent the rest of the night talking about anything but their plans for the next year, her brother or any of the other obstacles that came with their relationship. They ended up on the blanket at some point, lying on their backs, trying to find patterns and constellations in the starry sky.

"I don't want this night to end," she whispered and he smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair. "What's the time?"

"Late enough that I should probably get you home," Archie said looking up at the sky, pulling Veronica closer when she rolled onto her side and curled herself around him. "You're going to have alot of questions about where you disappeared to."

"Don't worry, my friends and I will sort it out," Veronica assured him, she had no idea what lie she could come up with that would get her out of this unscathed but she was sure Kevin, Betty and Reggie would help her.

Archie's phone pinged and he grunted, pulling it out to read whatever text he got before groaning and rolling them over so Veronica was on her back and he was hovering over her, his face buried in the crook of her neck.

"What's wrong?" she asked amused at how he actually hid his face so he didn't have to look at his phone, running her finger through his hair.

"I should get you home," he said pushing himself up and pressing kisses to her lips between his words. "For once it's not Jughead, it's my dad needing me home."

"Ooh Fred Andrews imposing a curfew, what did you do wrong," Veronica teased with a laugh, Fred Andrews was notoriously lenient on Archie, Veronica couldn't remember a time when Archie was in any actual trouble with the old man. Even Jughead got into more trouble with their father and F.P was barely in their lives enough to truly parent.

"I don't know, he wants to take me up to my grandparents place tomorrow that's usually code for wanting to have a serious talk," Archie said with a slight frown, pulling her up with him and grabbing whatever he could from the floor. "It didn't sound like I was in trouble, I haven't done anything wrong lately."

"Oh Archikins, stop over thinking it," Veronica laughed, watching the wheels spin into overdrive in her boyfriends head. "He probably just wants some father-son time, you have been ignoring your father for us Jones siblings."

"You two are bad for my health, I should start staying away," Archie said tossing the blanket and the pillows into his truck before opening her door for her.

"As if you could ever stay away from me," Veronica said smiling down at him when she was in her seat, Archie rolled his eyes and kissed her before closing her door and jumping into the drivers seat. "I really did have a wonderful time tonight Archie, even if it was cut short."

"Soon," Archie said taking her hand in his once they started moving. "Soon we won't need to hide anything, and this will be an every weekend thing, I promise."

"I love you," Veronica told him seriously leaning over to kiss him when they had rolled to a stop at a stop street.

"I love you too," he whispered back, into the kiss.

Veronica sighed happily and leaned her head onto the headrest, watching him as he drove her home. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other clasped tightly in hers, he was talking to her about something but she was barely paying attention, all she could see was the flush in his cheeks and how long his eyelashes looked when he blinked. Everything felt right and she was happy.

* * *

**A/N: I mean I could leave it here and everyone will be happy right?**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was so cute, I thought that I would have more time to write and edit but clearly I was wrong, it's been more than a month, I'm sorry, my time was also spent being angry and Archie and Betty even though I haven't watched the episodes yet, I was annoyed, Riverdale is alot of things but it is not One Tree Hill or even the Vampire Diaries where it can pull off a cheating story line or a core couple relationship switch, especially when they haven't built up to it **

**So my feelings aside, I hope you guys like this chapter, please let me know if you do and I hope you guys are staying safe, I am itching for this lock down to be over so I can just go back to being normal, its been almost 2 months and I think I have left my house a total of 2 times, it's crazy**

**Also Betty and Reggie were not supposed to be a couple when I started this, my muse liked them so they ended up being one in this story, I apologize to the Bughead fans who might read this and hate me but I am such a Varchie author that they're the only couple I actually care about keeping together**

**Until Next Time (^^,)**


	12. Chapter 12

Veronica glided into the house, she had her hands clasped against her chest and she was on her tip-toes, humming and twirling to the songs that she and Archie danced to that night. She danced into her room, kicked her shoes off and found her phone to check if Archie was home yet. Archie had texted her just as she unlocked her phone to tell her he was safe and going to sleep so he could be awake early enough, Veronica sent him a string of hearts and then changed into comfortable clothes.

Even with all the sneaking around, dating Archie Andrews was the best thing that happened to her. When Archie dropped her off at the Pembrooke, he decided that a little more time wouldn't hurt so they spent an extra half an hour fooling around in the dark back seat of his truck. Veronica blushed and bit down on her lip as she remembered how he touched her and how he felt and the moans he dragged out of her lips ... Veronica shook her head quickly, she was going to need a cold shower if she didn't stop thinking.

She walked through the empty house, into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water, she was sure she was awake for almost 24 hours at this point but she had so much energy, she didn't know if she would be able to fall asleep.

"You're awake," Jughead asked and Veronica gasped, jerking the glass so that the water sloshed out of it and Jughead furrowed his brows and frowned. "Betty told me you were sick, she didn't say anything about being jumpy."

"I'm fine, you just scared me," Veronica said letting out a breath and grabbing a cloth to wipe the water. "What are you doing back? I thought you'd be at Harpers tonight," she said thanking her lucky stars that Archie and Fred had that early morning trip otherwise he would have been in the house with her when Jughead came in.

"Hmm," Jughead grunted and then walked back out of the kitchen to the living room where he promptly collapsed onto the sofa, shedding his jacket and shoes.

"What's wrong?" Veronica asked, sitting down next to him and handing him a glass of water.

"Why would anything be wrong?" Jughead asked, gulping down the water and then letting out a burp, grinning at the disgusted face Veronica made.

"I just thought you'd be drunker," Veronica mused, he was still pretty drunk judging by the way his words slurred but usually when Jughead celebrated, the boys had to carry him into the house, or he would have to crash wherever the party was because they were all in no condition to leave.

"I don't get black out wasted at every party I go to, might I remind you of your 16th where I was the only sober one," he told her with a roll of his eyes.

"May I remind _you_ that you are the captain of the team who won the championship tonight," Veronica shot back, her worry fading a little when she saw him beam at her words. "If there were ever a night to get black out wasted, it would be tonight."

"I thought I'd leave it for the other guys," Jughead said with a shrug. "Didn't feel right to celebrate without Archie there, this was our win, we've been dreaming about this night forever."

"Oh?" Veronica asked, her heart hammering into her ribs, she felt a little guilty that Archie was with her when he should have been celebrating with his team. "I thought I saw you guys taking celebratory shots."

"And then he left me for a girl, so no, tonight was not my night," Jughead said with a pout and Veronica furrowed her brows slightly, Jughead's words told her that he knew Archie was with someone but he didn't look like he knew that girl was her. Jughead noticed the wheels turning in her head because he reached over and patted her knee. "Sorry kid, I know you were crushing on him again but he's taken."

"By who?" Veronica asked biting the inside of her lip, she knew that Archie might make up a relationship with a fake person to throw Jughead's of their trail and to give him an excuse to disappear for a couple hours, like he did that night.

"Some random girl he met online that's going to NYU," Jughead complained. "He refuses to tell me more or even show me pictures."

"Just her college is an oddly specific detail to know about her," Veronica said, knowing that Archie would have only brought up the college his 'girlfriend' was going to if he was going to tell Jughead about him changing the college he wants to go to.

"Because she is 'oddly' the reason that he's planning on ruining our college plans," Jughead said teasing her use of the word oddly and then frowned slightly at his use of the English language. "First Toni now Archie, I can never win."

"Oh," Veronica whispered again, she focused a lot on her brothers happiness throughout her life and ruining his most important friendship when she started dating Archie was one of her main concerns, she was hoping that when he eventually found out that the fall out wouldn't be as bad as she had built it up in her head. "I'm sorry that Archie left you for an NYU girl."

"It's fine," Jughead said with a chuckle, reaching out to nudge her. "There's still our graduation party, Archie's not allowed to be an infatuated with an NYU girl for that one."

"You need to stop teasing me," Veronica said with a roll of her eyes, but her brothers playful expression was gone, he was in deep thought now. Veronica wondered if he would talk to her about the things that were bothering him, they were always close but Jughead had always tried to play a parental figure for her while their parents were off being successful, childless business moguls, it hurt her that they weren't here for his final high school game and she knew it hurt him, though he would never say it, she wondered if that was what he was thinking about to make his mood change. "What's on your mind?"

"Did you know that Archie isn't the only one that left me for a girl," he said with a deep sigh, keeping his eyes averted from her and picking at the throw pillow he had pulled onto his lap. Veronica furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him confused and just a little amused, of all the deep dark confessions from their parents shortcomings to him knowing that she was the one with Archie that night, someone other than Archie leaving him for a girl was not something she thought would make the cut.

"What are you talking about?" Veronica asked, shifting on the couch, she wondered how drunk he was and how many of his close kept secrets she could get out of him while his guard was down.

"Has Toni ever told you why we broke up?" Jughead asked and Veronica furrowed her brows and shook her head, was he finally going to tell her why her all time favourite couple slash faux parents were no more?

"She told me that you would tell me why you were so wrong for each other," Veronica said remembering Toni's words from her birthday which felt like a lifetime ago. "I've honestly given up hope on ever getting the truth out of you two."

"That's not the sister I'm used to," Jughead said with a snort and Veronica smiled a little smugly at his implication of her being persistent in getting all his secrets out of him eventually, she was proud of how she could annoy him into talking to her. "Well, Toni left me for a girl, that's why we broke up."

"Woah, really?" Veronica asked blinking up at him shocked, that was huge, she never realized that Toni would be interested in anyone other than her brother much less other girls. "Wait did she cheat on you?"

"No, remember the weekend that we broke up, it was the first time Toni came home from campus," Jughead asked, taking a deep breath to steady himself for this conversation and Veronica nodded. "She told me then that everything was confusing and it had been for a while and that she loved me but she wasn't in love with me but the problem wasn't just that she wasn't in love with me anymore it was that she didn't think that she was even interested in men at all and she needed to figure it out."

"Please tell me you were nice to her about this," Veronica said trying to read her brothers face but he had his eyes fixed on the glass on the table, looking away from her and stopping her from looking at his expressions too closely. Veronica knew how sensitive Toni was and she knew that Jughead could be mean when he got angry, she just hoped he had enough sense to keep his anger in check when she came out to him. "Juggy?"

"I was not," he eventually said rubbing his hand across his face and getting up to walk over to the alcohol cabinet to pour himself a drink, Smithers and her parents kept the cabinet locked but Jughead had made a copy of the key years ago and they were none the wiser. "I was pissed, we had been together our whole lives, we had everything worked out, we had plans in place and we had this entire life that we were going to live happily and then she decided that everything was wrong."

"Oh no," Veronica whispered, staring at her brothers back, he looked tense. She kept thinking back to that conversation they had by the lake, about how it had been months since their breakup at that point and Toni was still confused and hurt, she had told Veronica that she couldn't explain it to her yet and Veronica didn't understand what she meant back then but it was making sense now.

"We fought a lot, as you are well aware," he said and Veronica nodded. "I said things I wish I didn't and so did she."

"What did you say?" Veronica asked quietly and Jughead shook his head, downing whatever he had poured for himself and pouring himself another drink.

"Nothing that I'm willing to repeat," he said and Veronica grimaced at the thought of Toni, confused and scared and Jughead just making it worse. "I was angry and I was not very kind, I lashed out."

"So the fight you had my birthday weekend..." Veronica trailed off, hoping Jughead would fill in some of the missing pieces.

"I made some off-hand comments about cheating and a girl she might be dating, we fought, she snapped at me for moving on too quickly and accused me of being intolerant, we fought more," Jughead said, giving up and just bringing the whole bottle back to the couch with him, he poured out some of the whiskey into a second glass and handed it to her, as if he needed her to have some alcohol in her as well. Veronica took the shot and made a face, shivering as the amber liquid burned its way down her throat. "It just kept getting out of hand."

"Did you apologize?" Veronica asked and Jughead nodded after a minute and Veronica sighed, relieved that Jughead didn't just let Toni go almost a whole year feeling like he hated her because of her sexuality.

"Archie knocked some sense into me after I told him what was happening," Jughead said with a sigh and Veronica frowned, Archie knew and didn't tell her? And then she realized that it wasn't his place to tell her something as big as this. "She said she understood, when she comes home for the summer holidays we'll talk, I promised her I would control my anger and she promised to do the same."

"Good for her," Veronica said, she loved Toni and she would always selfishly wish Toni would marry her brother just so she would stay in Veronica's life as close to a sister as she could get, forever, but more than her own selfishness, Veronica wanted Toni to be happy, she wanted her to find an epic love and if that love wasn't Jughead then Veronica would make her peace with it and just hope that all their years together meant that Toni would still want to pick up the phone when Veronica called.

"Yeah," Jughead said with a sigh and Veronica could see that he still loved Toni, he always would, she was his first love but he was different now, he was becoming more independent without her and as much as Veronica refused to accept Harper as anything more than a rebound, she had to admit that the girl had helped her brother move on faster than he would have if she hadn't pursued him.

"Are you ok?" Veronica asked after what felt like an hour of silence, the siblings completely engrossed in their own thoughts. Jughead looked up at her almost as if he forgot that she was in the room and nodded stretching forward to pour himself another drink, Veronica wanted to stop him, for the first time in her life wondering if her brother was using alcohol as a crutch at just 18 years old and if she should be worried but she thought she might bring that up when he was properly sober.

"I will be," he told her, flashing her the biggest smile he could and she laughed at how fake it was, launching herself into his arms to hug him tightly. "First loves are hard to get over kid, but eventually it all fades and you get through it, you'll understand one day."

"Who's to say that I haven't already experienced my first love?" Veronica questioned after they parted.

"Have you?" Jughead asked quirking an eyebrow up at her, looking more sober than he had the entire night. "And if you tell me that Nick St Clair was that love I might just throw up."

"No, of course not," Veronica said laughing, she knew that he was done talking about Toni. "He was surprisingly easy to get over."

"Thank God," Jughead mumbled with a roll of his eyes. "I should have kicked him out the first time he showed up here with flowers for the 'beauty of the penthouse', urg, how did you fall for that?"

"He was charming," Veronica said thinking that Jughead could have learned from him, he and Toni were together so long at that point that they didn't feel the need to romance each other anymore.

"He was smarmy," Jughead countered and Veronica furrowed her brows, that was not the word she would use to describe Nick but it sounded accurate enough.

"Is that even a word?" Veronica asked with a snort.

"I might be drunk but I know my words," he shot back, smirking at how easily he could make his sister roll her eyes at him. "You know I thought something was going on with you and Archie."

"You did?" Veronica asked, feeling her cheeks start to heat up and tried as hard as she could to keep her face neutral.

"Even threatened him to stay away from you," he said with a chuckle and Veronica quirked an eyebrow, she had eavesdropped on this particular conversation but she wasn't going to let her brother know that.

"Would it really be so bad?" Veronica asked tentatively as Jughead looked up at her. "For Archie and I to date?"

"I suppose not," Jughead said slowly as if he were considering it and she wondered if she and Archie and Toni were thinking too hard about how Jughead would react that they didn't consider the fact that if they were honest he might just be ok with it. "But then it wouldn't work and then I'd either have to live with awkward interactions with my best friend and my sister or I would have to choose sides and after everything that happened this year I might just get on that old bike dad has stashed in the garage and ride away from the both of you forever."

"Who's to say we wouldn't work?" Veronica asked her heart dropping to her stomach, her hopes of just telling Jughead that she was Archie's NYU girl completely dashed.

"V, I've known Archie forever, it's why I'm not too concerned about his new girl and these college plans he's making with her," Jughead chuckled and Veronica frowned deeply, waiting for him to continue. "Archie falls in love quickly and each time he thinks its the real thing and then he gets bored or someone else comes along and he gets distracted and that girl he was head over heels in love with is forgotten."

"Like Val," Veronica asked in a small voice and Jughead nodded, raising an eyebrow at her change in demeanour.

"Exactly, I love the guy but he sucks at relationships and I wouldn't want you to get hurt like that especially after Nick, just look at this as me saving you the trouble of thinking of dating him when this new relationship of his falls through," Jughead said amused and Veronica gave him her best 'who, me?' look. "You think I haven't noticed the extra long hugs and looks you've been giving him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Veronica said slouching down in her seat, she wondered if Jughead was just trying to put her off dating Archie or if he was giving her actual advice.

"I'm sure," Jughead said and Veronica wondered exactly how obvious they were when she thought they were stealthy. "And besides, we're moving across the country for college next year, this NYU thing will be over by the time the summer holidays begin, I can promise you that."

"Why are you so annoying about me dating?" she asked, she wanted to know why he was so sure but decided against keeping the topic on Archie where she could just incriminate herself, instead asking something else she had wondered alot and since he was in a sharing mood she thought she would try her luck.

"I don't know if you've noticed but we're kind of alone here," he said looking around the house and Veronica nodded and looked at him as if waiting for him to make his point. "I realized a long time ago that I was going to have to be the parent around here kid, I mean they're here for birthdays and Christmas and if they remember maybe they'll be here next month for graduation but when was the last time you spoke to either of them, like more than a 5 minute phone call or check up text."

"I ... the week after my birthday," Veronica said sadly after a moment of actually thinking about it, she was annoyed with her parents because the winning game that they played was one of the most important of Jugheads life so far and she was sure neither of them had called to see how it went.

"From the moment they put you in my arms when you were born I knew I had to protect you, this pink squirmy, wrinkly, fragile thing, dad made me promise I would always help him and mom protect you," Jughead said and Veronica had to laugh at the description he gave of her as a newborn. "When they started extending their business trips, I realized that I was the only one there to protect you and one of the things I had to do was make sure you would never get your heart broken by the ridiculous boys that you were into."

"Oh," Veronica said softly, she missed her parents presence in their lives but not as much as she probably should have, because of Jughead and to an extent Toni.

"I hated Nick because I saw how invested you were and how dismissive he was, I tried forbidding you from seeing him but it seemed to make you want him more, and then there was Chuck, I don't know how you thought you were keeping that from me," Jughead told her and Veronica cringed, she truly thought that they were being so good at sneaking around. "And all those random one date guys, I don't know how many times Toni had to force me to let you make your mistakes, it was just so frustrating not to step in especially when you kept making the same mistake."

"You knew?" Veronica asked with raised eyebrows and Jughead nodded. "So you're telling me that I could have been dating like a normal person and I wouldn't have been locked up in this house for the rest of my days."

"I mean I wouldn't have been happy about it and I probably would have tried to lock you in your room until your graduation, but Toni would have had my head if I tried," Jughead told her with a sad smile, probably thinking about his and Toni's relationship. "I interfered wherever I could, especially when I got a bad feeling about the guy, you know that but if you dating Nick St Clair taught me anything it would be to let you be and then make sure the guy knew I would break his legs if he hurt you."

"And here I was waiting for next year when you weren't here to watch me to go truly crazy," Veronica said and Jughead made an unhappy grunt.

"I still have spies in Riverdale that will report everything back to me," he warned and she rolled her eyes. "I also have a promise from mom and dad that they will be home more often, I don't plan on leaving you completely alone after everything."

"Thank you Juggy," Veronica said hugging him again and burying her face into his chest, suddenly overwhelmed with emotions for her brother and the lengths he went to, to make sure that she was protected.

"You're welcome kid," he whispered back, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and hugging her back.

They stayed like that for a while, two siblings who were each others protectors, who were going to be on opposite sides of the country soon, who would forever be each others first priority.

* * *

It was early in the morning when Archie called her, Veronica hadn't truly fallen off to sleep yet. After her talk with Jughead, she had messaged Toni to tell her how much she missed the pink haired girl and that she had spoken to Jughead and that she would tell Toni all about it during their next phone call, then she sat on her bed thinking about everything Jugehad had said that night, about Archie, about her relationship with her parents, about his and Toni's breakup and about their own relationship.

"Hey Ronnie," Archie said when she picked up. "I was hoping you would pick up, I thought you would be knocked out."

"Me too," Veronica said and then cleared her throat, she sounded so croaky. "My voice still needs to get up."

"We just reached," Archie said and Veronica could hear a bird squawking in the background. "I probably won't have good reception for the rest of the day but I wanted to hear your voice."

"Well now that you've heard it, in its croaky glory," Veronica said, smiling as Archie laughed. "Will it get you through your day?"

"The only thing getting me through the day is knowing that I get to see you tonight," he told her and she felt herself blush happily and melting further into her pillows.

"Hmmm with Juggy as chaperone," she complained, her thoughts fluttering back to the conversation she had with her brother earlier that morning.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," he said and she giggled, his plans were usually ridiculous. "I'll call you when I'm back in Riverdale."

"Okay, have a good day with your dad," she whispered, already drifting off to sleep. "Archie?"

"Yeah babe?" he asked.

"You aren't going to get bored of me are you?" she asked in a small voice and she could picture Archies furrowed eyebrows and his frown at her question that had come so out of the blue, especially after their little date the night before.

"Of course not," he said, worry creeping into his voice and she cringed, she didn't want him to worry while he was with his dad. "What would make you think that?"

"Just something that Jug said, I'll tell you about it later," she told him with a shake of her head and then forced a laugh just so that he wouldn't worry. "Love you."

"Love you too Ronnie."

* * *

**A/N : So it's been a while, hello I'm Bikerchick101 or Nikki and I write fanfiction, if you've forgotten like I seem to have, I do hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was one that I have been hesitant to write even though its one of my favourites but it is very Jughead and Veronica heavy, focusing alot on their relationship as siblings and their dynamic, which of course is the basis of this story (for me at least) so I hope you don't hate me too much for not having alot of Varchie content **

**I love this story so much but I have struggled with inspiration and time and everything else, so thank you so so much to the readers who have been patient and especially to those who review, reading your reviews really helped me when I was trying to get back into writing**

**I hope everyone is still staying safe and you enjoyed the stories that Cami posted for KJ's birthday, it made my shipper heart so happy, now we just hope that he posts something sweet for her birthday as well **

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you think, until next time (^^,)**


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